Kerala, which boasted of eliminating coronavirus, is getting battered and bruised by the same virus on a daily basis. Despite Sunday being a holiday and most of the people staying indoors due to heavy downpour, a record number of 821 persons were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the State. This is the highest number getting tested positive on a single day in Kerala. The day also saw the pandemic claiming the lives of two persons taking the toll till date to 42.
The main cause of concern to health professionals and policy makers is the number of persons getting afflicted through contacts. Till a fortnight ago, the expatriates and persons from other States were the main contributors to the ‘tally’ of covid-19 patients in Kerala. This has come a full circle now with the number of persons getting infected through contacts outnumbering the expatriates and persons from other States.
On Sunday, out of the 821 persons tested positive for the pandemic, 629 were those who got infected through contacts. The number of expatriates who tested positive were 110 while those from other parts of the country numbered 69. In yet another indication of community transmission, 43 persons who tested positive could not explain how they were infected.
The capital city of Thiruvananthapuram continued to top the list of districts with highest number of positive cases. While 222 persons in the district were diagnosed with Covid, the number of persons infected through contact stood at 203. Ernakulam , the cosmopolitan district in the State tested 98 positive cases out of which 84 were those afflicted via contacts.
There are 318 hotspots in Kerala at the time of going to Press on Sunday. It may be remembered that the entire scenic coastal stretch of Thiruvananthapuram has been shut down for the next ten days. The villages along the shoreline have turned out to be epicentres of Covid.
A sense of panic and helplessness has set in Kerala, especially among farm workers and labourers who were dependent on their daily income for survival. Hundreds have been thrown out of work as all kinds of construction and farming operations have come to a standstill. There is palpable psychological issues with tempers flying high in most places of the State especially among the casual labourers and unemployed.