10 fresh coronavirus cases in Kerala, 23,000 under observation

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 23 () Ten fresh COVID-19 caseswere reported in Kerala on Thursday, taking the total activecases in the state to 129 with over 23,000 people underobservation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. Four of the new cases reported were from the high rangeIdukki district, two each from Kozhikode and Kottayam and onecase each from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, the CM said inhis daily media briefing on the disease situation. Allaying the fears of communityspread, Vijayan said thatthe state has not yet reached the third stage of Covid-19spread in Kerala. "The third stage of Covid-19 spread has not occurred andthere has been no community spread also as of now.

But we need to remain vigilant and take necessaryprecaution to prevent the spread of the deadly virus," headded.

Both Idukki and Kottayam, have been removed from thegreen zone and have nowcategorised under Orange zone aspositive cases have been reported.

Of the new cases, two had history of foreign travel, fourhad returned from neighbouring states-- two from Chennai, oneeach from Pollachi and Mysuru and others were contacts ofthose already infected.

Foreign returnees are from Sharjah and Dubai.

Samples of eight people -- six from Kasaragod and oneeach from Malappuram and Kannur, returned negative.

While the COVID-19 cases touched 447, a total of 316people have been cured, Vijayan said, adding 23,876are underobservation, including 437 in isolation wards of varioushospitals.

The state has till now sent 21,334 samples for testing.

The four districts in red zone will remain under strictlockdown while the rest of the 10 districts have now beencategorised under the orange zone.

"The hotspots in all the districts will remain closed inorder to prevent the spread of coronavirus," the ChiefMinister said.

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has giventhe nod to Kannur and Kottayam medical colleges labs toundertake Covid-19 testing. Presently, state's 14 government and two private labshave received approvals for virus testing.

As the numbers of positivecases are rising, thegovernment has decided to purchase 10 real-time PCR machinesfor testing.

Strigent measures would be taken to prevent the inter-state travel along the borders of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, hesaid.

Meanwhile, cases have been booked against a doctorcouple, a Kendriya vidyalaya school techer and an exciseofficial, who helped the teacher, under the Kerala EpidemicAct and various provisions of the IPC for violating lockdownnorms.

All those who had come to the state after taking part inthe Tablighi congregation in Delhihave been identified andtested for the disease. The government has decided to allow marriages atchurches, but said only a maximum of 20 people canparticipate.

Vijayan also said that random anti-body tests will beconducted among health workers, police, home deliveryvolunteers, and guest workers to ensure that there is nocommunity spread. Kannur district with 59 positive cases has the mostnumber of Covid-19 cases inthe state followed byneighbouringKasaragod with 19 cases.

Kozhikode and Malappuram has 15 and five casesrespectively. RRT UD