This story is from June 27, 2020

Covid-19 cases of local spread worries Thiruvananthapuram

Covid-19 cases of local spread worries Thiruvananthapuram
A police officer sits behind a plastic film while recording complaints of the public outside the museum police station in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rise in number of Covid cases due to local transmission and also cases with unidentified sources of transmission have become a cause for worry for state capital.
Seven more positive cases were reported in the district on Friday taking the total number of active cases to 84.
Already, Manacaud region has been closed due to threat of local spread after an autorickshaw driver turned Covid-positive.
On Friday four more positive cases have been reported from Manacaud alone. Of these, three are from the contact list of the autorickshaw driver. These three are from a family and they are running a stationary shop at Manacaud Junction. A 50-year-old man his 42-year-old wife and their 15-year-old son are the ones who were tested positive.
Another case reported from Manacaud is a 41-year-old man who is working with Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. He has no travel history and does not feature in the contact list of the autorickshaw driver. The district health administration is yet to trace the source of infection of this person.As many as 12 employees of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre were put under observation after he was tested positive. All of them were in direct contact with him.
Another person, a 60-year-old retired employee of VSSC from Vallakadavu, has also been tested positive on Friday. He also has no travel history and the source of infection is not known. The other two cases reported on Friday are 28-year-old person who came from Tamil Nadu and a 68-year-old person from Chirayinkeezhu who came from Maharashtra.
Till date, 190 positive cases have been reported in the district. Thiruvananthapuram tops, along with Malappuram, regarding cases with unknown sources in the state and hence the government has imposed strict restrictions in the city. The lockdown restrictions are continuing to prevent any local spread, the threat which is looming large over the capital city.

Meanwhile, the city corporation’s move to issue token system for vendors of perishable goods in the city to keep 50% of such trading establishments shut, has come under criticism of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasaya Ekopana Samithi. Kamalalayam Suku, state senior vice-president of the Samithi, termed the corporation’s move as an untimely and unnecessary intervention.
The city corporation had launched the new system to prevent crowding of customers at major marketplaces in the city and thereby reduce chances of spread of Covid-19.
Suku said that this move would only help to create a stigma against small-scale vendors in Chalai and Palayam markets where the new regulations are strictly implemented. By targeting these too major marketplaces, the civic administration has created an impression that these areas are Covid hotspots. As a result customers are not coming to these places, he said.
Suku alleged that while these regulations are strictly implemented at Chalai and Palayam markets, the rules remain on paper for shops functioning in major shopping malls. The Samithi is also contemplating protest measures unless the civic administration lifted the new regulations.
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