With the number of corona affected persons increasing, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the state was facing a serious situation and severe restrictions should have to be implemented in some regions.
“With just 16 patients under treatment on May 8, we now have 161. Our diagnosis strategies are being formulated based on these figures. Knowing how we are getting the disease itself is a way to stop its spread,” he told reports here.
The state has seen a surge in corona cases after people started to come back from abroad and other states. Kerala, which has been witnessing an increase in the number of coronavirus patients in the last three days, reported 24 new cases on May 20.
Seven persons from Palakkad district, four in Malappuram district, three from Kannur district, two each in Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur districts, and one each from Kasargod, Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Alappuzha districts are those who have been tested positive, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters in Thiruvanathapuram.
Twelve of them came from abroad and 11 from other States (Maharashtra-8 and Tamil Nadu-3). One case in Kannur district was that of local transmission.
The Chief Minister also said that five patients under treatment tested negative. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the state stood at 666. He also said that 74,398 persons are now under surveillance (73,865 quarantined in their homes and 533 under isolation in hospitals).
He mentioned that 48,543 samples were sent for testing and 46,961 samples were negative. As part of sentinel surveillance of high-risk category, 6,090 samples were collected separately and tested. Out of these, 5,728 samples have tested negative, he said.
The Chief Minister also cautioned people from targeting those who came back to the state from other states and abroad. “Only a few of them are found to be infected. Similarly, those who are being quarantined or those who have recovered should not be ostracised. They need not be excluded from our society. People should not get carried away by any misinformation on social media,” he said.
