Kerala Agriculture Minister Adv VS Sunil Kumar confirmed on Facebook that he has contracted COVID-19. He is under treatment at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.
"After having some physical difficulties, I took a test yesterday and it came out positive. There are no other health issues as of now. I am getting good treatment here and expect that I can leave the hospital in a few days," Sunil Kumar wrote.
The minister has also requested everyone who came in contact with him in the last week to contact health workers and take the necessary precautions.
"We can overcome this pandemic by following the instructions given by the Health Department and the government," Minister Sunil Kumar wrote.
He is the third minister in the state government to contract the disease. Finance Minister Thomas Isaac and Industries Minister EP Jayarajan had tested positive earlier this month. Thomas Isaac was discharged last week from the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College after his recovery and has been in quarantine for a week. Jayarajan was admitted at the Pariyaram Medical College in Kannur on September 11.
At the time, a controversy had risen over Minister Jayarajan's wife Indira's visit to the bank while he was supposed to be in quarantine. However, she released a video saying that she was living away from the minister at the time. She also called the newspaper report about her breaking quarantine rules fake. She further sent a legal notice to the media house for publishing 'fake news' in connection with her bank visit.
On Tuesday, the state reported 4,125 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total number of active cases to 40,382. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan blamed the many violent protests by rival parties over the past several days contributing to the spread of the coronavirus. Over 100 policemen who have been deployed to control the protests have contracted the disease, he said.
Watch: Minister VS Sunil Kumar contracts COVID-19