Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 66,761 on Thursday, with the state reporting 2,406 fresh cases. The state also registered 2,067 recoveries in the last 24 hours.
So far, 43,757 people recovered from the disease, while 22,673 patients are still under treatment in various hospitals across the state.
Local transmission of COVID-19 continues unabated as 2,175 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 193 are unknown, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed.
Apart from this, 47 healthcare workers (13 from Thiruvananthapuram, eight from Thrissur, six each from Ernakulam and Kasaragod, five from Malappuram, three from Alappuzha, two each from Idukki and Kannur and one each from Palakkad and Wayanad) also contracted the virus. Today's cases also include four INHS employees from Ernakulam district.
Of the 2,406 cases reported on Thursday, 59 people came from abroad, while 121 came from other states.
The chief minister also confirmed ten more deaths on Thursday. With this, the official death toll rose to 267.
The deceased have been identified as Shahjahan, 67, from Malayam in Thiruvananthapuram; Ashari, 76, Venpakal from Thiruvananthapuram; Vimalamma, 83, from Venganoor in Thiruvananthapuram; Muhammed Zaheer, 47, from Panur in Kannur; Mami, 70, from Manipuram in Kozhikode; Sathyan, 53, from Kuzhummal in Kannur; Xavier, 50, from Valiyathura in Thiruvananthapuram; Divakaran, 65 from Valappadu in Thrissur; Femina Sherif, 40, from Pazhaveedu in Alappuzha; and Elikutty, 64, from Padiyoor in Kannur.
District-wise break-up of today's positive cases:
Thiruvananthapuram – 352 (contact cases: 331)
Kozhikode – 238 (225)
Kasaragod – 231 (217)
Malappuram – 230 (217)
Palakkad – 195 (151)
Kottayam – 189 (182)
Kollam – 176 (164)
Alappuzha – 172 (146)
Pathanamthitta – 167 (141)
Thrissur – 162 (146)
Ernakulam – 140 (125)
Kannur – 102 (87)
Idukki – 27 (21)
Wayanad – 25 (22)
District-wise break-up of recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram – 623
Malappuram – 538
Alappuzha – 130
Kannur – 119
Thrissur – 95
Ernakulam – 90
Kozhikode – 90
Kasaragod – 84
Kottayam – 74
Kollam – 59
Palakkad – 56
Wayanad – 44
Pathanamthitta – 37
Idukki – 28
While India emerged as the frontrunner in single day reporting of COVID-19 cases worldwide, Kerala was able to arrest the trend to an extent, the chief minister said.
In Kerala, we focussed on two important factors: one, improvement in health services and two, improvement of 'Break the Chain' with public involvement, he said.
"It is however, dangerous to underestimate COVID-19 pandemic. If the public tends to disregard the disease and think that contracting the virus is not as harmful as portrayed, the situation will go out of hand," the chief minister said.
Kerala has the infrastructure to handle cases eight times higher, he said.
The treatment for COVID-19 patients, including testing medicine, plasma therapy etc, is completely free in Kerala. The rates charged by private hospitals in Kerala are also comparatively lower compared to other states, Vijayan said.
Besides NIV Alappuzha, 19 government labs and 10 private labs offer RT-PCR testing facility in the state. As many as 234 private labs offer antigen testing facility.
155 COVID-19 First-Line Treatment Centres (CFLTC) are operational in the state now. Half the beds at these facilities are unoccupied at the current juncture, Vijayan added.
Testing and quarantine
In the last 24 hours, 37,873 samples have been tested, a health department statement said on Thursday.
In total, 15,64,783 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing. As many as 1,71,641 samples collected as part of sentinel surveillance, it said.
Of the 1,93,925 people under observation for suspected infection, 1,75,513 are home/institutional quarantined and 18,412 hospitalised. As many as 2,465 people were hospitalised since Wednesday.
13 new places were designated as hotspots on Thursday, while 14 LSGs were excluded from the list. The state presently has 604 hotspots.
