A day after becoming the first district in Kerala to cure all COVID-19 patients, Kottayam has stepped up its pandemic prevention activities by opening four additional centres for collection of throat and nasal swab samples.
According to officials with the district health department, collection centres have been newly opened at the general hospitals of Pala, Changanassery, Kanjirappally, and the taluk hospital in Vaikom. The Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) and the District General Hospital in Kottayam already have the centres.
Many in quarantine
“A decision with regard to opening collection centres in four taluks was made after considering the large number of people remaining in home isolation,” said an official with the district health department. As on Saturday, 3,265 persons are in home quarantine in the district.
The health officials here on Saturday identified 14 primary contacts of a few COVID-19 patients in Kasaragod and Kannur. Three among them were admitted to the isolation ward at the GMC here on Saturday, taking the total number of persons under hospital surveillance to four.
Even as all six COVID-19 patients in the district have recovered from the disease after undergoing treatment at the MCH here, the health authorities regard Kottayam far from a relief point.
“We need at least one more week to get an approximate picture of the situation as incubation period of a majority people under home isolation will be completed only by then,” the official added.
Pension disbursal
The district administration has so far distributed social security pension to 65,053 persons in the district.
As per estimates, pension worth ₹15.76 crore was distributed through the 126 primary cooperative societies in the district.
