On Tuesday, Kerala witnessed yet another COVID-19 death, taking the total people who have succumbed to the disease in the state to 12. The deceased person is identified as a 77-year-old priest from Thiruvananthapuram district, who died on the same day that he was found to be coronavirus positive.
The priest, a native a Thiruvananthapuram suburb, was under treatment for respiratory ailment in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. The priest was found to have COVID-19 after his death.
Thiruvananthapuram district administration officials confirmed that the person does not have a travel hisory. "It is not clear how he got the disease. He underwent a surgery in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College after meeting with a road accident on April 20," the statement says. Following the surgery, he was under treatment. He died on Tuesday morning.
This is also the the fifth person who has died of COVID-19 in Kerala the source of whose infection is yet to be determined.
Meanwhile, 86 more people were reported to be positive for COVID-19 in the state on Tuesday, including the deceased priest. This has made it the highest number of people tested positive for coronavirus in Kerala in a single day. With this the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state rose to 1,412. A total of 774 people are presently under treatment and 627 people in total have recovered.
Of the 86 people, 15 persons are from Malappuram district, 10 from Alappuzha, nine from Kasaragod, eight from Kollam, and seven from Thiruvananthapuram including the deceased priest. There are six patients each from Kottayam, Thrissur and Wayanad; five each from Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kannur; three each from Ernakulam; and one person from Pathanamthitta among the new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
Twelve people among the new patients - from Wayanad (6), Malappuram (4) and one each from Kannur and Kasaragod - contracted the virus through a contact. A health worker in Palakkad district also tested positive for coronavirus. 46 people out of the total 86 people are returnees from abroad and 26 people came from other Indian states. Over 1.43 lakh people have returned to the state from foreign countries and other Indian states.
A total of over 1.47 lakh people are under observation for COVID-19 in the state. Of this, 1.45 lakh people are either in home or institutional quarantine, and 1,340 people with symptoms are in isolation in hospitals. 200 people were admitted with symptoms in hospitals on Tuesday alone.
Though the Kerala Chief Minister last week had announced that at least 3,000 samples will be tested per day, in the last 24 hours, 2,421 samples were tested. As part of ascertaining community transmission, Kerala has so far tested 15,101 people including frontline workers. Of this, 13,908 samples have come out negative so far.
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