Kerala witnesses spike in COVID-19 cases as 26 more test positive

Barely a week after the Kerala government declared that the COVID-19 curve has been flattened, the state on Thursday saw a sharp spike in positive cases with 26 people, including 7 foreign returnees and a police personnel getting infected, taking the total to 560.

The active cases, the number of people under treatment, also rose to 64 compared to just 16 on last Friday, when only a solitary fresh infection was reported.

At least 100- odd policemen have been quarantined in Wayanad and Palakkad districts.

"The rise in the number of new cases are an indication of the crisis we are facing.

But we are confident that we can overcome this pandemic and we will use all the resources at our disposal to tackle thesituation," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said adding that the state would be rolling out a specialised treatment protocol.

 

On May 8, Vijayan had declared that the state has flattened the curve, but cautioned it needed to be careful to avoid another wave of the deadly virus while but asserting his government was ready to fight it in such an event.

On Thursday, three Congress MPs -- T N Prathapan, V K Sreekandan and Ramya Haridas and MLAs Shafi Parambil and Anil Akkara, all from Palakkad and Thrissur districts, have been asked be under home quarantine as they were suspected to have come into contact with a man at Walayar checkpost who later tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.

The Congress leaders had staged a protest at Walayar check-post, bordering Tamil Nadu, on May 9 accusing the LDF government of showing "apathy towards Keralites stranded across the border and overseas."

Subsequently, a political slugfesterupted with the Opposition party alleging that the Left government was engaged in quarantining political rivals.

Vijayan, however, lashed out at the leaders and said, "they should have behaved in a responsible manner" instead of visiting the state border for a "political drama."

"The situation which led them to be quarantined should have been avoided.

Those who are supposed to behave in a responsible manner, should do so. This is not a time for some political drama," he said.

The five politicians are among 172 people,including 25 police personnel and media persons, who have been asked by the Medical Board to go on quarantine in Palakkad district.

Wayanad District, which was under Green Zone for at least 32 days has now the highest number of cases in the state, 14 after a truck driver from reached the district from Koyembedu market in Chennai and infected at least 10 including close family members.

In Wayanad district, at least 70 police personnel, including the district police chief, R Illango, have gone into quarantine as a precautionary measure after their three colleagues were infected by the virus.

Briefing the media on COVID-19 situation, Vijayan said 10 of the new cases were from Kasaragod district, while Malappuram reported five, Palakkad and Wayanad three each, Kannur two and Pathnamthitta, Idukki and Kozhikode districts one case each.

Three people -- two from Kollam and one from Kannur -- have recovered, he said.

Thetally of COVID-19 cases in the state has risen to 560.

Of the fresh cases, 14 came from outside the state -- seven from abroad, two from Chennai, four from Mumbai and one person from Bengaluru, Vijayan noted.

Eleven people had been infected through contact.

After single digit fresh cases, the state has been seeing an increase in the past couple of days.

On Wednesday, 10 people had tested positive and on Thursday it increased to 26, Vijayan said.

At least 36,910 people were under observation with 548 of them in hospitals.

So far 40,692 samples have been sent for testing and the state has reported three deaths till now.

The chief minister also condoled the deaths of 124 Keralites outside the state due to COVID-19.

The state, whose handling of the coronavirus cases has won praise from various quarters, had been apprehensive of a spike in cases with the return of expatriates and those stranded in other states.