On Tuesday, Kerala reported a spike in COVID-19 cases with 19 people testing positive, after a decline in the numbers in the past few days, as the total infections touched 426 in the southern state.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his COVID-19 media briefing said, “Today the situation is something different from that of some of the recent days, the positive cases are higher than the negative cases.”
Kannur, which has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot, recorded 10 cases, Palakkad four, Kasaragod three and Malappuram and Kollam one each, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters. The number of those getting infected were in single digits over the past few days. As of now, there are 117 active cases in the state. Of the 10 positive cases from Kannur, nine of them had come from abroad and one had been infected through contact, he said.
Meanwhile, 16 people tested negative on Tuesday, taking the total number of cured cases to 307. Seven out of the 16 cured were from Kannur district, four from Kasaragod, four from Kozhikode and one from Thiruvananthapuram. There are 36,667 people under observation in the state where 332 are in isolation wards. The state has till now sent 20,252 samples for testing, Vijayan said.
Kannur, bordering Kasaragod, has at least 53 active positive cases, including a 10-member family. Kannur now has the most number of cases in the state. Till now, the district had 104 cases. There is an incident in which ten members of a family were infected through contact, Vijayan said.
With increase in positive cases on Tuesday, the lockdown protocol will be implemented in a strict manner, and police will monitor whether the people are diligently following the restrictions imposed, he said. The 86 hotspots, spread across the state, will be completely sealed, Vijayan added.