Kerala reported 1,184 new cases of COVID-19 and 784 recoveries on Monday. With 1,005 of the new cases being locally acquired infections, including those of 41 health-care workers, there seems to be no let-up in disease transmission in the State. The number of cases wherein no epidemiological link could be established went up to 114.
The Health Department confirmed seven more deaths, taking the official COVID-19 toll in the State to 115. The new deaths were reported from Ernakulam, Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kasaragod, Wayanad and Kozhikode.
The cumulative case burden of the State ever since the outbreak began has reached 35,515, of whom, 12,737 are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals across the State. Till date, 22,620 persons have recovered from the disease.
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After consistently remaining at the top as the district reporting the maximum number of new cases daily for the past one month, Thiruvananthapuram conceded the slot to Malappuram, which reported 255 new COVID 19 cases on Monday, of which 222 are locally acquired infections. Thiruvananthapuram reported 200 cases of which 191 were infections of local origin.
Briefing the media, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said disease transmission in Thiruvananthapuram was yet to come down and that preventive and containment activities had been intensified at Kallikkad, Vellarada and Neyyattinkara municipality where the limited community clusters were likely to become large clusters.
He said all health protocols and universal safety precautions against COVID-19, including physical distancing, were being satisfactorily implemented in all northern districts. To review these activities in districts and to devise new strategies for containment, a meeting of senior police officers had been called.
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IG iof Police S. Sreejith, had been given the task of looking onto the problems faced by fisherfolk, now that COVID-19 is spreading in coastal areas. He will be assisted by the Coastal Police.
Mr. Vijayan said a Neighbourhood Watch programme, where in the citizens will be empowered to keep an eye on COVID-19 spread in the community, will be implemented across the State with the help of Janamaithri police.
He said a new limited cluster had been formed at Panavally in Alappuzha and that disease transmission in Ernakulam district was focussed around Fort Kochi.
Cases were on the rise at Malappuram. In Kozhikode, COVID-19 seemed to be spreading fast amongst migrant workers, with 36 of them testing positive in the past three days.
In the last 24 hours, the State had tested 20,583 samples. The number of hot spots in the State now is 531.