One person died of COVID-19 in Kerala on Thursday, December 21, according to the data published by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW). The state also reported 265 new cases on the same day, while 275 infected persons have been cured or discharged from hospitals. Kerala has the highest COVID-19 testing rate in the country.
No other state reported deaths due to COVID-19 on Thursday. On Wednesday, India had reported six COVID-19 deaths, of which three were from Kerala, two from Karnataka, and one from Punjab.
On Thursday, India reported 328 new cases of COVID-19 including Kerala’s 265. According to the MOHFW, Tamil Nadu reported 15 new cases, Karnataka 13, Gujarat nine, Maharashtra eight, Telangana and Puducherry five, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh three cases each. At present, there are 2997 active cases of COVID-19 in India.
In light of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases being reported, various state governments have put in place precautionary measures, including making masks mandatory for healthcare workers.
So far, India has reported 21 cases of the JN.1 variant of SARS-COV-2, with 19 being from Kerala and one each from Kerala and Maharashtra. Earlier this week, Kerala Health Minister Veena George had said that the 79-year-old woman who had shown the JN.1 infection had recovered following home treatment. She also said that the situation is under control and there is no cause for alarm.
The reported symptoms of JN.1 include fever, runny nose, sore throat, headache and in some cases mild gastrointestinal symptoms.