Kerala saw a dip in the COVID-19 cases on Saturday compared to the past four days, but it would be premature to take it as a positive sign for obvious reasons. The state reported 593 more cases on Saturday while the figures in the previous four days were above 600. The tally had even crossed 700 in the past few days. The state reported 204 recoveries on Saturday. This is the second highest tally in the week; Thursday marked 228 recoveries.

Of the latest positive cases, 364 had contracted the disease through contact. While 116 came from abroad, 90 came from other states. Among those infected include 19 health workers and a fire force and Defence Security Corps (DSC) personnel each. With this, the total cases reported from the state touched 11,659 and 6,416 out of them are still active.

District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:

Thiruvananthapuram – 173

Ernakulam – 44

Kollam – 53

Kozhikode – 26

Pathanamthitta – 28

Alappuzha – 42

Kottayam – 16

Thrissur – 21

Palakkad – 49

Malappuram – 19

Wayanad – 26

Idukki – 28

Kannur – 39

Kasaragod - 29

District-wise breakup of patients cured:

Thiruvananthapuram – 7

Ernakulam – 9

Kozhikode – 9

Pathanamthitta – 18

Alappuzha – 36

Kottayam – 6

Thrissur – 11

Palakkad – 25

Malappuram – 26

Wayanad – 4

Idukki – 6

Kannur – 38

Kasaragod – 9

COVID deaths

Kerala reported two deaths on Saturday, 70-year-old Aruldas and 60-year-old Baburaj from Thiruvananthapuram.

Naseeba, a 74-year-old Kasaragod native, who was under observation for the viral pandemic died on Saturday. No official confirmation with regard to COVID-19 death has been issued by the government over Naseeba's death.

Of late she was undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College in Paraiyaram, Kannur, after showing symptoms of lung disease. She was also suffering from diabetes.

Matter of relief?

"The fact that the number of positive cases has come down today is a matter of relief in itself. However, to know whether it is actually a matter of relief, we will have to wait for a few days," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in his sunset briefing on the COVID situation in the state.

The chief minister himself, in the beginning of the press interaction, had given the reason why the state has to be worried, rather than finding solace in the marginal dip in the latest tally.

Infection through contacts or local transmission in the state has gone above 60 per cent of the confirmed cases. To add to it, the number of cases without known sources of infection is also on the rise in various districts, the chief minister said.

Home treatment

The chief minister said the government was considering experts' proposals to start home treatment for patients whose condition is mild. The government will resort to this method in case the infection rate goes up uncontrollably, the chief minister said.

“Experience from some countries show that asymptomatic patients and those without other serious conditions could be allowed to stay at home for treatment provided there are treatment centres nearby,” the chief minister said.

Thiruvananthapuram continued to record the highest number of positive cases with 173 more people testing positive. The figure is lower compared to the 339 on Thursday and 246 on Friday.

Lockdown will be effective since midnight in the coastal regions which have turned COVID clusters since midnight.

Contact cases are rising in other districts too. Of the 42 cases in Alappuzha, 23 are contact cases. Of the 44 cases in Ernakulam, 38 contracted the virus through contact. Of them, 12 are from the Chellanam cluster and 16 from Aluva cluster. The contact cases include nine health workers working in various hospitals in the district.

In Pathanamthitta, 14 of the 28 new cases contracted the virus through contact.

Reiterating that two regions in Thiruvananthapuram have entered the stage of community transmission, the chief minister said resorting to scientific methods to contain the spread of the virus is a must.

He said the lockdown measures in the Ponnani cluster of Malappuram has been successful. The government's focus now is on first line treatment centres. Those in critical conditions will be shifted to the COVID hospitals while others will be attended to in first-line centres. Private hospitals have also been given permission to treat COVID patients.

He also announced that the first plasma bank for antibody treatment has been opened in Manjeri medical college.

Testing and quarantine

In last 24 hours, 18,967 samples have been sent for testing. On Saturday alone, 1,053 people were admitted in various hospitals in the state. There are 1,73,932 people in observation and 6,841 people out of them are admitted in hospitals.

The state has 299 hotspots as of Saturday.