Covid-19: Kerala's coastal area accords warm reception to health workers

Poonthura, a coastal area of Thiruvananthapuram city, where Covid-19 super spread was confirmed last week, on Friday witnessed a group of agitated people blocking health workers and even coughing at them as they felt that the Poonthura locality was being framed as the hub of Covid-19 in the state capital.

However, on Sunday the same locality witnessed the local people according to floral reception to a medical team as an act of remorse.

Of the 489 Covid-19 active cases in Thiruvananthapuram, the major chuck are at Poonthura. A super spread was confirmed in the locality and strict restrictions were imposed.

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Subsequently, there were alerts that since a large section of people of the locality were involved in fish sales at various parts of the city the chances of Corona's spread to other parts of the city through people of Poonthura was quite high.

These reports have not gone down well with the people of the coastal area, who are quite sensitive, as they felt that a deliberate attempt was going on to frame the locality as the hub of Covid-19. They also alleged poor Covid-19 care facilities and insufficient supply of essential commodities in the locality which was declared containment zone.

To protest against this a group of local people came out to the streets and staged a protest on Friday. During the melee, a car in which a health team came for conducting rapid antigen tests were blocked by a section of agitated local people. Some of them put their head inside the car and coughed, saying that if the people of Poonthura were Covid-19 infected, let it spread to everyone.

This incident had been widely condemned and many social workers and religious heads of the locality carried out a massive awareness campaign among the people. Government agencies ensured an adequate supply of food items and better Covid-19 care facilities were offered.

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Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan even alleged of attempts by political opponents to create unrest among the local people.

These had prompted the people of Poonthura to accord a warm reception to the health team that came down for conducting antigen tests on Sunday. Women and men showered flowers at the vehicles of the medical team and priest Bebinson Anthoniadimai of the local church received the team with bouquets. The local people ensured full cooperation with the efforts to fight Covid-19.