Chennai’s largest cluster from Koyambedu market has found its way to Kerala after a 52-year-old truck driver from Wayanad tested positive in the district. The man, who lives in Mananthavady, was tested positive for SARS-COV2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on May 2 (Saturday).
A few days prior to this, the patient was found to have visited Chennai’s Koyambedu vegetable market, where the largest cluster with over 700 cases has emerged. As per the route map of the man released by the Wayanad Health Department, he left from Chennai on April 26, after taking a load from Koyambedu. After staying there for four days, he reached the Meenangadi Kulamberi godown in Wayanad on April 27. After unloading the goods, he visited the market to settle his bill.
The man’s samples were taken on April 29 after an alert fieldworker reported that he had returned from Koyambedu. District health authorities immediately collected samples from the patient and his co-driver. Both were put under home quarantine the same day. On May 2, he was shifted to the COVID-19 hospital in Mananthavady, after his samples tested positive.
Three days later, on Tuesday, the man’s mother, wife and the 21-year-old son of his co-driver, too, tested positive for the virus. All of them are reportedly asymptomatic. Fortunately, the 52-year-old’s co-driver, who had also visited the market and whose son contracted the virus, has not tested positive, although the results of his second samples are awaited.
These fresh cases in Mananthavady have ended Wayanad’s successful run as a coronavirus-free state for over one month. The district, which was to be declared a green zone with no cases, has now been designated as an orange zone (new cases in the last 14 days).
The health authorities in the district are now tracing the primary contacts of all the four positive cases. According to reports, around 30 primary contacts have already been traced by the Wayanad district health authorities.
“There are a few primary contacts and we are in the process of tracing all those who have come in contact with the positive cases," Wayanad's District Medical Officer told TNM.
Tamil Nadu reported 771 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. The state confirmed that most cases have been linked to the Koyambedu market cluster, resulting in the spike. The huge market sees hundreds of vendors coming from different parts of Tamil Nadu to sell fruits, vegetables and flowers. This has emerged as the biggest cluster in Tamil Nadu currently.