3,215 new cases in Kerala, 656 in Thiruvananthapuram alone

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Covid-19 was confirmed in 3,215 persons in the state on Tuesday while 2,532 recovered from the disease. Among the new cases 3,102 people, including 89 health workers, were infected through contact. The source of infection of 313 patients remains unknown.
The total cases reported in the state have risen to 1,14,033, of which 31,156 are active cases. Till now 82,345 have recovered from the virus.
Meanwhile, 12 more deaths were reported, taking the total toll to 467. The deceased are Muhammed Ali Haji, 87, Paulson, 53, and Chandran Nair, 79, from Thrissur; Madhavan, 63, from Malappuram; Leela, 60, Harindran, 67, Shahunathumma, 64, Narayana Pillai, 89, and Stanley, 54, from Thiruvananthapuram; Raveendran, 69, from Kozhikode; Ismail, 55, from Ernakulam and Khalid, 55, from Palakkad.
For the first time, the new cases in the state capital crossed over 600 mark. The new active cases from Thiruvananthapuram are 656, followed by Malappuram (348), Alappuzha (338), Kozhikode (260), Ernakulam (239), Kollam (234), Kannur (213), Kottayam (192), Thrissur (188), Kasaragod (172), Pathanamthitta (146), Palakkad (136), Wayanad (64) and Idukki (29).
Overall, there are 2,08,141 people under observation across the state and 22,627 of them are in hospitals. On Tuesday, 2,324 people were admitted to hospitals. So far, 21,98,858 samples have been sent for testing, including 41,054 samples in the last 24 hours.
There are 12 new hotspots even as 10 places were excluded from the list. Now, there are 617 hotspots in the state.
Protests putting state at risk: CM
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said the ongoing agitations, especially the ones in the state capital, would contribute to the spreading of Covid-19. Even though the Covid protocol stipulates that wearing of mask and social distancing are mandatory, all the agitations are being organized in violation of the protocol.
The CM said that political parties who are carrying out agitations are putting the entire state at risk. The political parties have crossed all the boundaries and hence the state government is viewing it very seriously.
“We cannot put the entire state under risk, when the pandemic is prevailing. We are not in the safe zone. Everyone has the responsibility to maintain the Covid protocol since the state cannot afford to let go the situation out of control,” the CM said.
However, the government has not taken any decision to ban the agitations since it is not a healthy practice in a democracy. It is up to the leaders of the political parties to decide whether they are doing any good for the state. “Even the police had to devote the entire time for maintaining the law and order now. The police were actively involved in the contact tracing and other Covid-prevention activities. Due to these agitations, now they are being pulled back into law and order,” the CM added.