Relief for Kerala amidst COVID-19 spike

Even as COVID-19 cases are steeply increasing in Kerala with 24 more being tested positive on Thursday taking the total active cases to 177, the state could heave a sigh of relief as not many infection from local contacts are being reported.

Of the 24 fresh cases, 14 were from abroad while 10 were from other states.

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While 163 people who came from abroad and other states from first week of May were so far tested positive, the number of those infected through local contact was around 30. Of this around 15 cases were contracted from a truck driver in Kerala.

Health Minister K K Shailaja said that even as COVID-19 cases in those coming down from aboard and other states were increasing, preventing infection through local contact is the crucial aspect in curbing a community spread.

Health department sources said that there was a serious concern in maintaining the ongoing trend of minimum local spread of COVID-19 as more and more people were coming down from other states and abroad and domestic flight services were also commencing.

Meanwhile, eight more people recovered on Thursday taking the total number of recoveries so far to 510. The total COVID-19 cases in Kerala so far is 690.