Kerala reported 49 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive cases on Monday, including two prisoners and healthcare workers each, state health minister KK Shailaja said. Of the 49 new cases, 14 and 10 are reported from north Kerala’s Kasaragod and Kannur districts, respectively.
Among the new Covid-19 positive cases, 18 people have come back from abroad, 25 returned from other states and six contracted SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease, from other infected people locally, the minister said. She promised to ramp up efforts to contain the spread of the viral outbreak.
There has been a recent spike in Covid-19 positive cases because of the return of stranded people from West Asian countries and other states across the country amid the easing of lockdown restrictions. An estimated one lakh people have returned to the state over the past two weeks.
Kerala still has 359 active Covid-19 cases of the 896 reported to date. Around one lakh people are under quarantine, including 90% of them at their homes.
Four more areas, including chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s home district Kannur, have been declared as hotspots.
{{/usCountry}}Four more areas, including chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s home district Kannur, have been declared as hotspots.
{{/usCountry}}On Monday, the Vijayan-led government completed four years in office, but no celebrations were held because of the prevailing lockdown restrictions imposed to contain the viral outbreak.
“We’re with our people and they also accept us in a big way. The state is a role model for many others. We’ll continue our best efforts. We have completed in four years what we had promised to accomplish in five years of our rule,” said the CM.
The ruling Communist Party of India (M) hoped that its effective governance amid the pandemic would help gain political mileage.
But the opposition Congress alleged that a lion’s share of the government funds was spent on unnecessary public relations (PR) exercise. “It’s a PR campaign at its best,” alleged opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.