No new COVID-19 cases in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, May 1 (): In a relief toKerala, no COVID-19 cases were reported on Friday afterwitnessing a slight spurt in the past few days, as thehotspots jumped to 80.

"No new cases were reported on Friday and samplesof 9 people have returned negative.The active cases in thestate touched 102", state Health minister K K Shailaja said.

It was on March 17 and March 18 that no freshcases had been reported.

Four people each from Kannur and Kasaragod and onefrom Ernakualmtested negative today, she said in a pressrelease here.

So far, 392 people have been treated for theinfection and discharged and 102 people are presentlyundergoing treatment in various hospitals,21,499 people underobservation,including 432 in various hospitals, the ministersaid.

The samples of 27,150 people, with symptoms, hadbeen sent for testing, of which 26,225 have returned negative.

As part of sentinel surveillance, of the 1862samples collected, 999results which were available arenegative, the release added.

There are 80 hotspots in Kerala, including 10added on Friday-- eight from Thiruvananthapuram.

Kannur has 43 positive patients, the highest,followed by Kottayam (18) and Idukki (14).

Meanwhile, 379 lakh Non Resident Keralites and1.20 lakh Malayalees in other states who have been strandeddue to the lockdown, have registered in the NORKA website forreturning to the state.

According to police, 3699 cases were registered forlockdown violation, 3573 arrests recorded and 2398 vehiclesseized. UD BN WELCOME WELCOME