Thiruvananthapuram: With 7,445 people testing positive for coronavirus, Kerala on Sunday recorded the highest single-day spike in cases so far. This is the second consecutive day that the state is reporting more than 7,000 cases.
While 21 people died, 3,391 patients were cured of COVID-19 in Kerala on Sunday, the Health department informed in a press statement.
Of the new cases recorded, 6,965 contracted the disease through contact. The source of infection of 561 among them is unknown.
As many as 62 infected persons came from abroad while 309 came from other states.
The state has reported 1,75,384 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 1,17,921 persons recovered. The remaining 56,709 patients are being treated in various hospitals.
With over 20,000 new cases being detected in the last three days, Kerala has emerged as the state with the fastest growing coronavirus numbers. In the last one week alone, 36,914 new cases have been discovered in the state.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister K K Shailaja said a second COVID-19 wave was sweeping through the world and warned that if Kerala continued its relaxed irresponsible ways the state might be forced to impose extreme preventive measures, even a second lockdown.
An alarming 97 health workers tested positive in the state on Sunday – 19 from Thiruvananthapuram, 17 from Kannur, 13 from Pathanamthitta, nine each from Kollam, Ernakulam and Kasaragod, six from Kozhikode, five each from Malappuram, four from Wayanad, three from Thrissur, two from Kottayam, one from Alappuzha.
District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:
Kozhikode- 956 (917 contact cases)
Ernakulam- 924 (868)
Malappuram- 915 (888)
Thiruvananthapuram- 853 (822)
Kollam- 690 (666)
Thrissur- 573 (561)
Palakkad- 488 (464)
Alappuzha- 476 (426)
Kottayam- 426 (416)
Kannur- 332 (283)
Pathanamthitta- 263 (188)
Kasaragod- 253 (238)
Wayanad- 172 (151)
Idukki- 125 (77)
District-wise breakup of recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram 434
Kollam 269
Pathanamthitta 125
Alappuzha 306
Kottayam 123
Idukki 94
Ernakulam 337
Thrissur 215
Palakkad 206
Malappuram 399
Kozhikode 403
Wayanad 117
Kannur 153
Kasaragod 210
Testing and quarantine
A total of 2,27,831 people are under observation in various districts. Of these, 1,99,061 are under home or institutional quarantine and 28,770 are in hospitals.
3,752 people were admitted in hospitals on Sunday alone.
In the last 24 hours, 54,493 samples were tested.
So far, 27,70,734 samples (including the augmented sample) have been sent for testing.
In addition, as part of Sentinel Surveillance, 2,02,058 samples were collected from priority groups, such as health workers, guest workers, social contacts.
On Sunday, 17 more regions have been converted into hotspots and 14 have been excluded from the list taking the total number of hotspots to 655 in the state.
COVID deaths
With 21 deaths reported on Sunday, the state's toll rose to 677.
The deceased are Sivasankaran Nair (87) from Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram, Dhanuja (90) from Maniyapuram in Thiruvananthapuram, Sasidharan Pillai (64) from Vithura in Thiruvananthapuram, Rajappan (65) from Korani in Thiruvananthapuram, Raveendran (73) from Thirumala in Thiruvananthapuram, Lorence (37) from Puthukurichy in Thiruvananthapuram, Fathima Kunju (80) from Kollam, Jameela (63) from Alappuzha, Kochumol (43) from Pallam in Kottayam, Shankuntala (67) from Alatuchira in Ernakulam, Sheikh Akbar (65) from Elamakkara in Ernakulam, Delphy Joy (57) from Poothole in Thrissur, Selvan (65) from Chandra Nagar in Palakkad, Venugopal (72) from Kodekal in Palakkad, Hassan (90) from Chorodu in Kozhikode, Imbichi Thangal (65) from Thali in Kozhikode, Sadanandan (75) from Orkatteri in Kozhikode, Suhara (85) from Mannur in Kozhikode, Azeez (60) from Thalassery in Kannur, Ibrahim (50) from Poovam in Kannur, and SH Koya (80) from Thalangara in Kasaragod.
More deaths were reported but the state is yet to ascertain them as COVID deaths. Tests are underway at National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha.
