THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In what could possibly be an indication of the state's efforts to stem COVID transmission rate finally paying off, recoveries exceeded new cases in the daily tally for a record eighth straight day. However, officials warned that the upper hand gained in the fight against the pandemic will be frittered away if complacency were to set in among the public.
With candidates for local body elections throwing caution to the wind by sticking out their hands to voters and flouting social distancing norms, health workers on the ground have been feeling quite apprehensive.
"Based on the pattern of infection seen so far, when there is a spread, the virus runs through the population. A spike in infection, post the local body polls, has been projected. However, the complete lack of understanding of the ground reality among those in the fray for the polls and the political parties is a major disappointment," said a health official.
Among the 4,581 new infections reported, 3,920 were contact cases, 527 were cases with unknown source of infection, 85 were returnees and 49 were health workers. Meanwhile, compared to the 61,553 samples tested on Saturday the samples tested came down to 46,126 .The daily test positivity rate fell to 9.93 per cent, which was 10.33 on Saturday.