Kerala has been able to contain disease transmission extremely well so far, Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Monday.

However, even as the State was maintaining extreme vigil, news reports about the death of several non-resident Keralites following COVID-19, from across the world was very disturbing, he said.

Briefing mediapersons, he said that according to the latest reports, 18 Keralites residing outside the State had died of COVID-19.

Nizamuddin link

On Monday, 13 new positive cases of COVID 19 was reported in the State, including three cases linked to Nizamuddin.

Of these, nine are from Kasaragod, while Malappuram reported two cases, Kollam and Pathanamthitta reported one each.

Six of the cases in Kasaragod are people who came from abroad, while three are contacts of imported cases. The case in Pathanamthitta is also a person with a history of foreign travel.

The two cases in Malappuram and one case in Kollam are of people who had travelled to the Tablighi Jamaat meeting at Nizamudddin. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the State linked to Nizamuddeen has risen to 13.

As on Monday, the total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the State stood at 327, out of which 266 are currently under treatment in hospitals.

Of the 1,52,804 persons under surveillance in the State, 795 with symptoms have been isolated in hospitals, while the rest are being monitored under home quarantine.

Well prepared

The State was prepared to meet any possible exigencies involving an escalation in COVID- 19. It had identified over 1.25 lakh isolation beds in both public and private sector hospitals. The Health Department has drawn up a three-tier plan for COVID-19 containment and mitigation

Additional 17,461 isolation beds had been arranged in the 517 corona care centres. The State has also converted 38 hospitals as dedicated COVID care centres.