Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition in Kerala Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
He is asymptomatic.
Chennithala, the Congress MLA from Harippad constituency, will be shifted to the hospital for observation.
Chennnithala had gone into self-isolation after his wife and son tested positive on Tuesday.
Dr. M K Muneer MLA also tested positive on Wednesday. Muneer, a Muslim League leader, is also the deputy leader of the opposition in Kerala.
In a social media post, he has urged all those who had come in close contact with him to be vigilant.
Several top political leaders in Kerala, including five ministers, have tested
positive for coronavirus in the past few months.
Power Minister M M Mani, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Industries Minister E P Jayarajan, Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel and Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar have recovered.
Among Congress leaders, veteran A K Antony and his wife Elizabeth – both settled in New Delhi -- tested positive recently and have recovered after being admitted to the AIIMS in the capital city. Chalakudy MP Benny Behanan had also contracted the virus.
Several other leaders, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his predecessor Oommen Chandy had to go into isolation after they came into contact with COVID patients.
Kerala reported 6,169 new COVID cases and 4,808 recoveries on Wednesday. With this, the number of active COVID cases in the state rose to 62,802.
Of the new cases, 5,349 contracted the virus through contact while 98 had come from outside the state.
The infection source of 662 contact cases remains unclear.
Ernakulam, Kottayam and Kozhikode reported the most cases - 953, 642 and 605 respectively.
The test positivity rate in the state (i.e. the number of people likely to test positive for the virus in a group of 100) is 10.04.
