Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala shattered its single-day record for new COVID-19 infections on Saturday with 1,420 cases, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed during his press conference at Thiruvananthapuram.
The previous single-day record, 1,298, was recorded on August 8.
Of the new cases, 1,261 persons, or 97%, acquired infections through contact. No source of infection could be established in 92 cases. As many as 60 infected persons came from abroad while 108 came from other states.
In a slight relief, with 1,715 recoveries, the state also got the most number of recoveries on this day.
The state has reported 33,120 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 20,862 persons recovered.
District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:
Thiruvananthapuram: 485 (contact cases 468)
Kozhikode: 173 (152)
Alappuzha: 169 (135)
Malappuram: 114 (99)
Ernakulam: 101 (92)
Kasaragod: 73 (67)
Thrissur: 64 (51)
Kannur: 57 (25)
Kollam: 41 (37)
Idukki: 41 (26)
Palakkad: 39 (23)
Pathanamthitta: 38 (21)
Kottayam: 15 (12)
Wayanad: 10 (8)
District-wise breakup of recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram: 777
Malappuram: 165
Kozhikode: 110
Alappuzha: 100
Kollam: 91
Pathanamthitta: 78
Thrissur: 72
Ernakulam: 62
Kottayam: 60
Kannur: 47
Palakkad: 46
Wayanad: 55
Kasaragod: 33
Idukki: 19
The single-day case count crossed 1000-mark ten times before this in the state.
From when the first case was confirmed in the state on January 30, 2020, it took 168 days, or five-and-a-half months to reach the 10k-mark on July 16. However, it took only 11 more days to cross 20,000 cases and just 9 more days to breach the 30,000 mark.
Thirty health workers also tested positive in the state on Saturday – 9 from Kannur, 7 from Thiruvananthapuram, 4 from Kasaragod, three each from Alappuzha and Kozhikode, two from Ernakulam, one each in Pathanamthitta and Malappuram.
COVID deaths
Four deaths were also recorded on the day – Kasaragod native Vinod Kumar, 41, Kozzhikode native Sulekha, 63, Kollam native Chellappan, 60, and Ernakulam native Purushothaman, 84. With this, the state's death toll rose to 106.
View Onmanorama special: Let's not forget
Key Points from CM's speech:
• Rescue ops are underway at Rajamalai, where landslides killed 26 people. Two NDRF teams are tasked with rescue operations along with police, fire force and volunteers.
• In the Karipur flight accident: 149 passengers are in hospitals, 23 are critical.
• CM commended the efforts of the local villagers who enabled the effective rescue operation at Karipur.
• 3,530 families have been moved to camps in wake of heavy rains in the state.
• The water level in dams have increased significantly. The situation at Mullaperiyar and Thekkady are being constantly monitored. We have alerted the Tamil Nadu government to give enough advance notice before releasing the waters.
• Fishermen from Kollam have been dispatched to Pathanamthitta. 10 fishing boats have been dispatched with 20 fishermen.
• Pamba dam is likely to open the shutters soon.
• The state is likely to experience heavy rainfall in the coming days. The chief minister urged all to heed caution.
• A red alert has been announced in Idukki, Malappuram and Wayanad.
• Coastal areas too are likely to observe heavy rain and high winds. Trawling has been banned.
Testing and quarantine
A total of 1,48,241 people are under observation in various districts. Of these, 1,36,307 are under home-quarantine and 11,934 are in hospitals.
1,665 people were admitted in hospitals on Monday.
So far, 9,63,632 samples (including the augmented sample) have been sent for testing. Of these, the test results of 6777 samples are yet to arrive.
In addition, as part of Sentinel Surveillance, 1,36,336 samples were collected from priority groups, such as health workers, guest workers, social contacts.
On Monday, 13 more regions have been converted into hotspots and 21 have been excluded from the list taking the total number of hotspots to 498 in the state.
From the districts
Thiruvananthapuram accounts for almost one-third of the cases reported in the state on Saturday. The district reported 485 cases, its biggest single-day tally. Of them, 468 are cases of local transmission. Cases have been reported from across the district, though mostly in coastal areas.
Kozhikode reported 173 more COVID cases on Saturday. This is the second highest number of district-wise cases following Thiruvananthapuram's 485.
Of the 173 cases in Kozhikode, 143 are cases of local transmission. Six people from abroad and 15 from other states also tested positive. Those from other states include eight migrant labourers staying in Kozhikode corporation.
Apart from them, 38 cases of local transmission have been reported in Kozhikode corporation. Two health workers have also tested positive.
Alappuzha district also witnessed a spike with 168 cases. Of them, 134 are contact cases. Three health workers also tested positive in the district.
Of the 114 cases in Malappuram, 100 are contact cases. Source of infection has not been ascertained in 11 cases.
