THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: COVID-19 infection through local transmission continued to spiral upwards in Kerala, with at least 84.8 per cent of the 1,251 persons confirmed infected on Friday contracting the virus locally. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who revealed the figures said the state reported as many as 1,061 cases of local transmission on the day, including eighteen health workers and 73 persons with unknown sources of infection. Meanwhile, 814 more patients recovered from the illness.
The capital district of Thiruvananthapuram continued to top the list with 281 new cases, followed by Kasaragod with 163, and Malappuram with 125 cases. At the same time, 121 new cases were recorded in Kozhikode, 73 in Ernakulam, 67 in Palakkad, 49 in Wayanad, 48 in Alappuzha, 35 in Kottayam, 28 in Pathanamthitta, 26 in Kollam, 22 in Thrisur, 14 in Idukki, and nine in Kannur.
A total of 1,49,684 persons are currently under surveillance over the suspicion of Covid-19 infection. Of them, 1,38,030 persons are under home or institutional quarantine, while 11,654 are in hospital isolation.
As many as 27,608 samples were tested over the last 24 hours. In addition, 11 new places were added to the list of hotspots in the state, taking the total number to 506.
The state declared five more deaths that occurred between August 2 and 6 as Covid-related fatalities.The deceased persons are Sajith, 40, a native of Kannur, Imbichikoya, 68, who hailed from Malappuram, Gopakumar, 60, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, PG Babu, 60, a native of Ernakulam, and Sudheer, 63, who hailed from Alappuzha. The chief minister said on Friday that the NIV, Alappuzha, had identified Covid-19 as the cause of these deaths.
“The total number of Covid deaths has now risen to 102. Other deaths will be confirmed after the examination by the NIV,” he said.