Kerala’s COVID-19 case graph continued to rise in steady spurts as another 57 more tested positive for the disease on Monday.
While 55 out of the 57 new cases were ‘imported’ ones of infection and were detected in people who had either returned from abroad or in persons who had returned from other Sates, one health-care worker in Palakkad and yet another employee of Air India also tested positive.
The number of cases in the Air India cluster thus became 10. The new cases reported by the districts are: Kasaragod and Malappuram 14 each, Thrissur 9, Kollam 5, Pathanamthitta 4, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam 3 each, Alappuzha and Palakkad 2 each, and Idukki 1. The State also reported the recovery of 18 persons from the disease.
The State’s total COVID-19 caseload has gone up to 1,326 cases, with active cases being 708, all of whom are being treated in hospitals. So far, 608 persons have recovered from the disease while 10 have succumbed to the virus. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that 210 Keralites had so far died abroad and that on Monday alone nine people lost their lives to the disease.
Kerala has put 1,39,661 people under surveillance and quarantine, out of whom 1,38,397 are either in home or institutional quarantine while another 1,264 are admitted in hospitals after they developed mild symptoms.
The State is testing an average of 3,000 nasal/oropharyngeal swabs daily now and in the last 24 hours, 2,990 samples were sent for testing. The list of hotspots in the State went up to 121 on Monday with five new additions, with the authorities designating three regions in Palakkad and two in Kannur as hotspots.