For the first time since Kerala reported its first coronavirus case on January 30, the number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the state in a single day crossed 1000 on Wednesday.
The state recorded 1,038 new COVID-19 cases and 272 recoveries on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said during his daily briefing.
Of this, 785 contracted the disease through contact. The sources of infection of 57 of them are unknown.
Among the new cases, 87 infected persons came from abroad while 109 came from other states.
With this, the total number of coronavirus cases recorded in Kerala rose to 15,032.
There are 8,818 active patients in the state who are being treated in various hospitals across the state. Of these, 53 are admitted to the Intensive Care Units while nine have been put on ventilator support.
One death was also reported from the state. The test results of Idukki native Narayanan, 75, who died on Tuesday, returned positive. Narayanan had returned from Tamil Nadu on July 16. He tested positive for the virus on July 20.
267 health workers have tested positive for COVID in the state so far.
Among the positive cases, 65.16% are locally acquired infections. In Thiruvananthapuram, the locally acquired infections makes for 94.4% of the total cases.
The state has identified 86,956 people as primary contacts of the infected while 37,937 have been identified as secondary contacts.
Here's the district-wise break-up of today's cases:
Thiruvananthapuram - 226
Kollam - 133
Alappuzha - 120
Kasaragod - 101
Ernakulam - 92
Malappuram - 61
Thrissur - 56
Kottayam - 51
Pathanamthitta - 49
Idukki - 43
Kannur - 43
Palakkad - 34
Kozhikode - 25
Wayanad - 4
District-wise break-up of today's recoveries:
Malappuram - 52
Kasaragod - 43
Pathanamthitta - 38
Thrissur - 33
Alappuzha - 19
Ernakulam - 18
Palakkad -15
Kozhikode - 14
Kollam - 13
Kottayam - 12
Thiruvananthapuram - 9
Wayanad - 4
Idukki - 1
Kollam district reported the second highest number of COVID-19 cases on Wednesday – 133. There are 122 contact cases among them, including five with no known source of infection and one health worker.
Cases without identified sources have been reported from Vattappara, Vengod, Chithara and Thalachira. Test result of a Palliman native woman who drowned on July 10 has returned positive. Source of infection remains unknown in that case too.
The infected health worker is a doctor from Perinad who works at a private hospital.
Alappuzha also reported cases in three digits – 120. Of them, 59 contracted the virus through contact. Twenty among them are officers in the ITBP camp at Nooranad. There are four cases without identified sources.
In Kasaragod, 101 people tested positive. Ninety of them contracted the disease through contact. Kumbala panchayat alone reported 39 cases. Badiyadukka and Kumbadaje reported 12 cases each.
Of the 92 cases reported in Ernakulam, 82 are contact cases. The patients include nuns in three convents. While nine members of a convent at Keezhmadu tested positive, eight tested positive at a convent in Kuzhippally. Three nuns of a convent at Thrikkakara also tested positive.
Thirteen people tested positive in Aluva cluster and six in Keezhmadu cluster. Only one person tested positive in Chellanam cluster. Curfew has been imposed in the Aluva cluster.
Of the 61 cases reported in Malappuram, 35 contracted the disease through contact. Source of infection has not been identified in 23 cases.
Kottayam reported its highest single-day tally of cases – 51. Of them, 41 are contact cases. Twenty-three of the patients belong to Changanassery and nearby Paippad. Four people who had attended a funeral at Chingavanam along with a person who tested positive later and two people who were in the contact list of a patient in Vaikom fish market are among those tested positive.
Forty-nine people tested positive in Pathanamthitta. They include a doctor of the Kanjeettukara Community Health Centre and a staff of the Adoor General Hospital.
Forty-three people tested positive in Kannur; 13 through contact. The patients include five officers of the Defence Security Corps and three health workers.
In Palakkad, 34 cases were confirmed. They include 25 who tested positive in rapid antigen tests.
Of the 25 cases in Kozhikode, 18 contracted the virus through contact. Source of infection has not been traced in three cases – a man of Kallayi and two boys from Panniyankara.
Wayanad reported the least number of cases – four. Two of them came from other states and two contracted the disease through contact.
Key points from the CM's press meet:
• In India, there are 864.4 cases per million people while in Kerala, it is 419.1 only.
• The CM said that Kerala's fatality rate due to the disease remains at 0.31% while that of India is 2.41%.
• A total of 342,000 N95 masks and 386,000 PPE equipment have been secured for our healthcare workers.
• More ventilators have also been secured.
• As many as 9,047 ambulances are plying for COVID cases alone.
• In Ernakulam, of the new positive cases, 66 contracted the virus through contact. The sources of infection of 15 of them remain unknown.
• In wake of the rising cases, a curfew has been imposed in Ernakulam's Aluva municipality and neighbouring panchayats effective from Wednesday midnight. Shops in the area will only remain open from 10am to 2pm.
• CM urged all private hospitals in Ernakulam district resume their services in the wake of rising cases. COVID treatment will now be made available in clinics as well.
• At present, 65.16 per cent of the total positive cases are from locally acquired areas. Thiruvananthapuram has the highest at 94.4 per cent.
• There are 1,59,777 people are under observation in various districts as of Wednesday. Of this, 9,031 are in various hospitals in the state.
• As many as 1,264 people have been admitted to hospitals on Wednesday.
• So far, 3,18,644 samples (including the augmented sample) have been sent for testing. Of this, the results of 8,320 are yet to come.
• In addition, as part of Sentinel Surveillance, 1,03,951 samples were collected from priority groups, such as health workers, guest workers, social contacts. Of them, 99,499 have returned negative.
• The number of hotspots in the state rose to 397.