The district headquarters remained cut-off from the rest of the district on Thursday with the State Disaster Management Authority declaring the municipal limits of Pathanamthitta as containment zone on Wednesday evening. The decision came in the wake of a student leader, politician, and two fish vendors in the municipality testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. The source of infection of six persons, three of them health workers, is unknown.
Shifted to MCH
Meanwhile, a 42-year-old fish merchant at Kumbazha market who tested positive on July 1 was shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Kottayam, on Thursday.
Health Department sources said the merchant was a chronic diabetic and had developed pneumonia too. There were reports that he had attended some marriage functions and funerals in and around Pathanamthitta. Being a politician and a cooperative bank employee, his contact list was vast. Another 48-year-old fish vendor who too tested positive hailed from Kumbazha. Eleven of his primary contacts were in quarantine.
Health surveillance teams have identified 17 contacts of the Muslim Students Federation leader. The teams visited 840 houses in the municipality on Thursday to identify his contacts.
The 33 municipal wards in Pathanamthitta will be containment zone for the next seven days. Public transport came to a halt with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation depot too remaining shut in the municipal limits.
The police tightened restrictions following reports of tension after local people protested against an attempt of some fish vendors to sell fish at Kumbazha and Pathanamthitta markets in the morning. Barring essential services, the police diverted all Pathanamthitta-bound vehicles from the entry points of the municipality. Shops selling essential commodities were permitted to open and the police put barricades at all entry points to the town.
All government offices at the mini-Civil Station too remained closed though offices of the Health and Revenue departments functioned at the collectorate.
However, banks and offices of the Kerala State Electricity Board and the Kerala Water Authority functioned as usual.
