Kerala on Tuesday recorded the highest single-day spike with 272 new cases ever since the COVID-19 outbreak .
However, more than the number of new cases, it is the rising trend in cases occurring in the community through local transmission that is ringing the alarm bells as far as the Health Department is concerned.
On Tuesday, the number of cases reported in the community through local transmission was 77. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed that at least 15 of these cases had no known source of infection. These cases also include the infection reported in seven health-care workers, including doctors, one Central Industrial Security Force jawan, and one from the Defence Security Corps in Kannur. The rest of the 195 new cases are all imported.
Worsening situation
Justifying the concern expressed by the Chief Minister about the worsening situation in the capital district, 47 of these local transmission cases, including that of five health-care workers, have been reported in Thiruvananthapuram. The district also has the second highest caseload of the day with a total of 54 new cases.
The disease is spreading fast and wild in the coastal area of Poonthura in the capital, with 22 cases reported on Tuesday.
Mr. Vijayan warned that the epidemic was reaching a stage wherein the disease transmission was fast and intense and that it was the laxity on the part of the people as far as the safety precautions or physical distancing were concerned which was now turning the situation worse.
On Tuesday, with 111 recoveries, the number of active cases in the State stood at 2,411. A total of 5,894 people have tested positive for COVID-19 till date in the State and there have been 3,454 recoveries so far.
Malappuram reported the highest number of new cases on Tuesday with 63 cases, followed by Thiruvananthapuram (54), Palakkad (29), Ernakulam (21), Kannur (19), Alappuzha (18), Kozhikode (15), Kasaragod (13), Pathanamthitta (12), Kollam (11), Thrissur (10), Kottayam (3), Wayanad (3) and Idukki (1). Eighteen new regions were newly designated as hotspots on Tuesday. The number of hotspots in the State now is 169.
