Nearly half of the inmates in Poojappura Central Prison in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, who were tested for COVID-19 on Sunday, turned out to be positive. Of the total 298 prisoners who were tested, 145 are positive, making the prison a COVID-19 hub.
With the new cases, the number of COVID-19 patients in the prison reached 362. A total of 758 prisoners have been tested so far.
According to sources, 246 prisoners and 240 officials need to undergo testing. “Those who have tested positive have already been segregated and quarantined. The critical patients have been admitted in hospitals. The remaining tests will be completed by Monday,'' said an official.
He added that most of the COVID-19 positive prisoners are asymptomatic. There are close to 300 staffs in various prison establishments in Poojapura.
One of the inmates, a septuagenarian who was admitted to the medical college hospital for COVID-19 treatment, passed away due to the disease on Saturday night. He was convicted for murder.
The jail department has directed all the prisons in the state to carry out tests for all inmates and officials in the backdrop of Poojappura prison becoming a hub.
The number of COVID-19 cases, meanwhile, continued to increase with the state reporting 1530 new cases. The number of new cases have been hovering over 1,400 for the last one week. On August 13 the number crossed 1,500-mark for the first time.
Ten deaths have also been reported on Sunday. This is the highest number of deaths reported in a day from the state.
For the last one week, the number of people who contracted the disease through contacts has been above 1,000. There has also been an alarming increase in the number of people who contracted the disease through unknown sources. “Overall, the situation is under control as the number of those who get cured somehow neutralises the new positive cases every day. But the matter of concern is the increasing instances of unknown sources,'' said an official.
As on Sunday, 14,891 patients are under treatment in the state. A total of 42,885 people have tested positive for the disease so far, of which 64.8 per cent have recovered.
