THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Blame it on local transmission, it seems the grip of the state government on Covid-19 is slowly slipping out of its hands.
Of the 3,138 new cases reported in the past two days, 86% were due to local transmission (2,760). These include 212 cases with unknown sources of infection.
A total of 17 Covid deaths were reported on Saturday and Sunday alone.
At the same time, for the fourth straight day, the state reported over 1,500 new cases. The active case tally soars past the 15,000-mark with 1,530 new cases reported on Sunday.
The official death tally has crossed the 150-mark with the recording of 10 more deaths on the day. The death tally now stands at 156. There are 15,310 active cases in the state.
“The highest spike in terms of new cases at 1,608 was reported on Saturday. Of the total cases, 1,409 were due to local transmission. On Sunday, 1,351 cases were due to local transmission.The number of health workers getting infected has also been going up in the past two days with 84 being infected and Sunday recording the highest number, at 53,” said an official of the health department.
Meanwhile, the surge in Covid-19 transmission has prompted the state to widen its testing ambit.
As part of the plan, rapid antigen testing will be carried out on those having influenza-like illness (ILI) and asymptomatic people in large community clusters.
The health department has decided to consider as serious ILI among Covid recovered ones. Such people will be subjected to RT-PCR testing. The decision was part of the revised testing strategy released on Saturday. Along with the revised strategy, a new treatment guideline was also released on Saturday.
Roundup
For the 13th consecutive day, the new cases being recorded on a single day crossed the 1,000-mark.
The stats also indicated that a worrying trend prevails in the capital district, as out of the 519 new cases on Sunday, 487 were due to local transmission. On Saturday, out of the 321 cases, 313 were due to local transmission.
The positive cases on Sunday included 126 returnees (37 from abroad and 89 from other states).
On Saturday, the highest single-day spike in new cases was reported (1,608), with most of the cases in Malappuram (362). The contact transmission cases on the day (1,409) are the highest recorded in the state so far.
Community clusters
Rapid antigen testing will be carried out on those having influenza-like illness (ILI) and asymptomatic people in large community clusters.
The health department has decided to consider as serious ILI among Covid recovered ones. Such people will be subjected to RT-PCR testing.