THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state on Saturday reported record single-day recoveries from Covid-19 even as fresh cases, including those through local transmission, hit a new mark. A total of 1,049 patients recovered on the day. This is for the first time that the recoveries crossed the 1.000-mark which eclipsed the previous best of 968 reported on Friday. The positive cases reported on the day totalled 1,103, with 838 cases due to local transmission. The total number of Covid cases reported in the state also crossed the 18,000 mark.
Health authorities attributed the revised discharge policy to the high rate of recovery reported in the last couple of days. According to the revised norms, all the patients will be subjected to antigen test before being discharged. Since last Tuesday when the decision had been announced, the number of discharges spiralled with July 21 recording 274, July 22- 272, July 23 - 432, July 24- 968 and July 25 - 1,049.
“Antigen tests enable faster results. In the case of RTPCR tests conducted for discharge earlier, the result might get delayed due to varying reasons. But the revised discharge policy is only a part of these high numbers. It is usual when the number of active cases goes up, correspondingly the recovery rate also increases,” said a health official.
The positive cases reported on the day include that of Ani Antony, 76, who had passed away in Ernakulam on Friday and four deceased Covid patients who were under treatment in Kozhikode, Palakkad and Kasargod, respectively. They include Nabeesa,63, of Kasaragod, Ruhiabeevi, 67, and Muhammad Koya, 58, of Kozhikode and Anjali Surendran,40, of Palakkad. With this the Covid death toll climbed up to 59.
On the day four districts reported over 100 cases. These include Thiruvananthapuram (240), Kozhikode (110), Kasaragod (105) and Alappuzha (102). The positive cases also include 21 health workers from Thiruvananthapuram (11), Pathanamthitta (four), Kollam and Alappuzha (two each) and Kottayam and Ernakulam
(one each).
Those infected also include two BSF personnel, three DSC personnel and 13 staffers of various public and private institutions. Among the contact cases reported, 72 were recorded as cases with unknown source of infection.
LDF meet postponed
T’Puram: The LDF meeting which was scheduled for Tuesday after a gap of four months, has been postponed. Though CPM leaders cite the rise in number of Covid-19 cases to be the reason, there are reports that the meeting is being deferred as NIA will be questioning suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar over the gold smuggling case on Monday. If the officer is arrested on the day, the CPM will face scathing criticism at the meeting. Already, the CPI is unhappy over the suspected links of the chief minister’s office with the gold smuggling racket. When the Sprinklr controversy erupted, the chief minister had rejected a demand by the CPI to remove Sivasankar from the post of chief minister’s principal secretary.