Kerala coronavirus tally touches 1,088 with 84 fresh cases, Telangana man dies of COVID-19

Thiruvananthapuram, May 28 () In the biggest single day spike, Kerala reported 84 COVID-19 cases on Thursday taking the infection tally to 1,088, while a man hailing from Telangana, who reached here from Rajasthan and tested positive, succumbed to the virus.

The deceased had wrongly boarded the Jaipur-Thiruvananthapuram special train on May 22 under the impression that it was bound for his home state and reached here along with his five family members without the requisite documents.

The 68-year-old man, who was under observation and later admitted to the general hospital here after he showed symptoms of the virus, died on Wednesday, a government press release said.

His wife, two children and two other family members are under observation at acare centre at nearby Poojapura.

The body has been shifted to the mortuary and as it was a COVID-19 death, the final rites are likely to be held here itself.

His sample result was received today.

With the latest casualty,seven people have died of the infection in the state.

On May 26, the state had reported the biggest single day spike of 62, prompting chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to warn that the state risks sliding into community transmission and losing all its gains if people under observation fail to follow health guidelines.

Vijayan said today "so far there has been no community spread in the state, but we cannot say it will never happen."

"We have been diligently following the directions of the ICMR with regard to the testing in the state.The ICMR has been insisting on antibody test but the test kits provided by it was not of good quality.

They themselves asked us not to use it," he said.

The "sentinel surveillance" has been effective in Kerala and that was how the state had come to the conclusion that community spread has not yet reached the Kerala society.

Kerala has the lowest mortality rate in COVID-19 cases and also the best recovery rate, Vijayan said.

"Some people are indulging in fake news that the state has been fudging numbers regarding COVID-19. But even the centre and the union health ministry has praised the manner in which the state has been fighting the pandemic," he said.

Otherstates have been asked to follow the Kerala model,he said, adding,the Centre has said that some states have been fudging numbers but Kerala was not in that list.

Presently 526 people are undergoing treatment for the pandemic and 1.15 lakh are under observation.

Of the infected, 31 had come from abroad and 48 from others states, including 31 from Maharashtra, nine from Tamil Nadu and three from Karnataka.

While five people were infected through contact, three people have been cured of the infection and discharged from hospitals.

"ICMR guidelines direct us to test anyone with common flu. Kerala has a low rate of spread of virus through contact.

Here the people are fighting the pandemic together. This is not a disease which someone can hide for a long time," he said.

Kasaragod reported 18 positive cases on Thursday, followed by Palakkad 16, Kannur 10, Malappuram eight, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur seven each, Kozhikode and Pathnamthitta six each, Kottayam three, Kollam, Idukki and Alappuzha one each.

There are 82 hot spots in the state, including six new additions on Thursday.

Two remand prisoners in Thiruvanathapuram have tested positive for the coronavirus today following which two police personnel of the Venjaramoodpolice station have gone into self-quarantine as a precautionary measure.

As per the latest medical bulletin, Palakkad has the highest number of positive cases, 105, followed by Kannur with 93, Kasaragod 63 and Malappuram 52.

The state capital Thiruvananthapuram has 36 cases. RRT UD BN WELCOME BN WELCOME