The reporting of new SARS-CoV-2 positive cases with no epidemiological link from districts which are not designated as Red zone, that too amongst health workers, has sent alarm bells ringing about a possible silent transmission of COVID-19 in the State at community-level.
Of the 11 new cases reported on Sunday, six are from Idukki and five from Kottayam. Of the six cases in Idukki, one person has returned from Spain and two have come from Tamil Nadu. The remaining three cases are contacts or people who contracted the disease from the community, one of which is a doctor.
In Kottayam, while one person has come from a neighbouring State, four others are contacts who got the disease through local transmission. Two of these persons are health workers.
Four persons were reported to have recovered from COVID-19 on Sunday.
Of the 468 cases reported so far, only 123 are undergoing treatment in various hospitals. A total of 342 persons have recovered from the disease. The number of persons under surveillance is 20,127, of which 462 are on isolation in hospitals and the rest on home quarantine.
The number of samples tested by the State so far is 22,954. All of them are in quarantine. The results of 21,997 samples are negative.