Thiruvananthapuram: With 141 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest daily tally till now, Kerala has notched up over 1,000 (1,044) cases in 10 days, which in turn is the highest-ever 10-day accumulation in Kerala. Experts fear Kerala would count its next 1,000 cases in six or seven days.

Kerala's test positivity rate, which is the share of positive cases in the total results declared and which was below 0.5 per cent in the first week of May, has climbed to 1.84 per cent.

If this crosses 2 per cent, Kerala will be prohibited from conducting pooled testing under which many blood samples, mostly five, are mixed together and tested. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has mandated hat pooled tests could be conducted by states only if their positivity rate is below 2 per cent.

Now, there are nine districts in Kerala with more than 100 active cases, and one of them, Malappuram, has 201. Palakkad - 154; Kollam - 150; Ernakulam - 127; Pathanamthitta - 126; Kannur - 120; Thrissur - 113; Kozhikode - 107; and Kasaragod - 102.

Though 90 per cent of the positives are returnees, either from abroad or other states, the number of people who have contracted the virus through contact are also on the rise. On June 23, for instance, eight people, including four in a family, have acquired the infection through contact. 

More troubling are cases among contacts who have no known source of infection, cases informally branded 'orphans' by health officials. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a clear break from his usual mode of playing down the issue, conceded on Tuesday that the most serious issue Kerala was facing was the presence of cases with no known source of infection.

"We are probing whether disease clusters have formed and community transmission has started in areas where infections with unknown sources have been detected," the Chief Minister said.

Even then, he used comparative analysis to tone down the gravity of the issue. "If you take India as a whole, the number of cases wth no known source of infection is 40 per cent. But in Kerala it is only two per cent," the Chief Minister said.

Seventy-nine of the infected persons came from abroad, 52 came from other states while 10 contracted the disease through contact. At present, state has 1,620 active cases. The day also saw recovery of 60 individuals.

The state has consistently recorded over 100 cases in the past five days, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said during his sunset briefing on Tuesday.

Positive cases: District-wise split

Pathanamthitta - 27
Palakkad - 27
Alappuzha - 19
Thrissur - 14
Ernakulam - 13
Malappuram - 11
Kottayam - 8
Kozhikode - 6
Kannur - 6
Thiruvananthapuram - 2
Kollam - 4
Wayanad - 2

Recoveries: District-wise split

Malappuram - 15
Kottayam - 12
Thrissur - 10
Ernakulam - 6
Pathanamthitta - 6
Kollam - 4
Thiruvananthapuram - 3
Wayanad - 3
Kannur - 1

Most of the COVID cases were confirmed in Pathanamthitta and Palakkad on Tuesday -- 27 each. This is the highest single-day spike in the number of cases in Pathanamthitta. There are no contact cases among those reported. Of the 27, 15 cases are returnees from abroad while 12 came from other states.

The cases in Palakkad include five children below six years. Seventeen patients are returnees from abroad and nine from other states. One contracted the disease through contact. The 55-year-old man is a jail official who worked in Thrissur district, He contracted the disease from a prisoner who tested positive earlier.

All the 19 cases reported in Alappuzha are returnees -- 13 from abroad and six from other states.

Of the 14 cases in Thrissur, two contracted the disease through contact. A Pazhanji native who works as a trader in Ernakulam and a staffer of Thrissur corporation have tested positive. The remaining six came from abroad and six from other states.

Two patients in Ernakulam also contracted the virus through contact. They are a junior public health nurse (50) at Chovvara Family Health Centre and her husband (53). Five wards of Sreemoolanagaram panchayat (1,7,9,10,11,12) were designated as containment zone following their test results. Other 11 cases are returnees from abroad or other states.

Eleven cases were reported in Malappuram. Three of them contracted the disease through contact. A 40-year-old man at Vairamkod got the disease from his wife, a nurse at a 108 ambulance in Thirunavaya, who had tested positive on June 13. A 41-year-old man at Moonnampadi who had contact with a fire force staffer who tested positive on June 12 has contracted the disease. The third contact case is a 45-year-old man of Munduparambu. His source of infection has not been identified.

Kozhikode also reported a contact case. A 31-year-old native of Naduvannoor, an employee of Karipur airport, has tested positive. He had come into contact with a colleague who had tested positive.

4 CISF men test positive in Kannur

Of the six cases reported in Kannur, one came from Kuwait and five from other states. Four of those from other states are CISF men. They came from Delhi by two flights on June 7.

Of the four cases reported in Kollam, one is suspected to have contracted the disease through contact. Two came from abroad and one from Haryana. A 65-year-old man who used to run a shop in Punalur town has also tested positive. He was arrested for selling tobacco products near school. He tested positive while in remand. He is suspected to have contracted the disease through contact with a peanut trader from Tamil Nadu.

Death toll rises to 23

One more person died of COVID-19 in Kerala on Tuesday, increasing the death toll in the state to 23.

The deceased, Vasanthakumar, 68, was a native of Mayyanad in Kollam district.

Vasanthakumar had returned to his ancestral house at Mukkom in Mayyanad on June 10 from New Delhi's Nizamuddin, a hot spot. No one was living in the house when he returned.

He complained of breathlessness and loose motion on June 15 and was subsequently, declared COVID positive on June 17. He was admitted to the Paripally Medical College Hospital on the same day.

He was put on the ventilator after his condition deteriorated quickly. He died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday.

CM urges people to wear masks at home

The chief minister urged people to wear masks at home to prevent community spread.

"People have been rushing to malls and markets in Thiruvananthapuram. In light of this, more restrictions will be imposed in the state capital. Violators will be dealt harshly," Vijayan said.

He chided establishments for flouting health and social distancing norms across the state. "This should stop. otherwise, we will be forced to revise the unlock measures and introduce more stringent measures," he said.

Mandatory testing for Vande Bharat flights

He said the state government had earlier requested the Centre to arrange COVID testing for Indian citizens boarding Vande Bharat flights from abroad. This request, he said, was made to check COVID-19 spread.

Following our requests, the Centre has amended the protocols to travel in Vande Bharat flights. "Now, the centre made testing certificate mandatory from June 25," he said.

In Saudi Arabia, rapid anti-body tests are being conducted by private hospitals, but the country's government has not recognized this.

Several other agencies too have expressed difficulties in conducting huge number of tests, he said. "Though these challenges remain, we must insist on mandatory testing for the larger good of the society," he said.