E-Paper
Kerala adds 4,505 Covid-19 new cases, 15 more deaths; tally over 1.03 million
The number of active cases stands at 59,814 while 961,789 people have recovered till now. The state has seen more than 4,061 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak last year.
Kerala on Friday registered 4,505 fresh Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, 15 related deaths and 4,854 related recoveries which pushed the overall caseload to over 1.03 million. The number of active cases stands at 59,814 while 961,789 people have recovered till now. The state has seen more than 4,061 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak last year. On Thursday, 4,584 new cases and 14 more deaths were recorded in the state.
Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Malappuram districts are the major contributors to Kerala’s daily Covid-19 figures. Kozhikode added the most number of cases on Thursday (638) followed by Ernakulam (609) and Malappuram (493). As many as 255,000 lakh people have been placed under the observation of which 9,506 are in isolation wards. The hotspots in the state have gone up to 433 after three more areas were added and two more were removed from the list, the state government had said.
Follow live coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic here
Kerala continues to be among the worst-hit states from the pandemic in the country - apart from Maharashtra. The uptick in daily cases in Kerala has happened due to the reopening of several activities and further easing of restrictions. Amid this worrying trend, the state is organising a seven-day annual cultural festival ‘Utsavam 2021’- starting Saturday.
Earlier, spas, ayurvedic resorts and other such facilities were allowed to reopen in January in accordance with safety norms. The tourism industry- which has massively suffered due to earlier lockdown restrictions- was allowed to resume a select number of activities in October last year.
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said on Tuesday that there was a substantial need to increase the testing figures in the state. Echoing his concern, NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said, “If we look at Kerala, the increase in the number of cases can be traced since the time of festivals.”
Meanwhile, Pune on Friday became the latest region to make RT-PCR tests mandatory for passengers arriving from Kerala. Earlier, the Karnataka government had issued new guidelines mandating all those coming into the state from Kerala to produce a negative RT-PCR test report of not older than 72 hours. Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Friday that those arriving from Kerala and Maharashtra will be ‘monitored scrupulously’ with a special focus on border districts.
