On-the-spot vaccination in more hilly areas of Kozhikode

District reports 2,950 fresh COVID-19 cases; test positivity rate at 19.47%

On-the-spot registration for vaccination is being implemented in the hilly regions of Kozhikode district, where people are finding it difficult to book slots owing to lack of internet coverage, District Collector N. Tej Lohit Reddy has said. He was attending a meeting chaired by Forests Minister A.K. Saseendran to review the COVID-19 situation in the district. Issues such as availability of beds and oxygen, intensive care unit support, and vaccine distribution were discussed. Mr. Saseendran suggested that infected persons who did not have quarantine facilities at home should shift to panchayat-run domiciliary care centres. It would help reduce the spread of infection, he said. Service roads should be barricaded to stop unnecessary travel in containment zones. The officials claimed that the district had enough stock of vaccines. The meeting urged those who stood a chance of infection to get tested. As many as 2,950 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in the district on Saturday. District Medical Officer V. Jayashree said in a release that 2,913 of them were locally acquired infections and the source of 29 others was not known. As many as 15,431 samples were tested and the daily test positivity rate is 19.47%. Kozhikode Corporation accounted for 510 cases of local transmission of the infection, and Olavanna 96. As many as 2,864 people recovered from the infection and the active caseload stands at 36,209.