A sense of panic has gripped Kerala since Friday evening as reports of coronavirus pandemic spreading uncontrollably started trickling in from various districts.
The tension and anxiety reached new heights by Saturday evening as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the people of the State that 127 persons have been diagnosed with covid-19 in a single day. “This is the highest number of covid-19 cases to be confirmed on a single day and the situation is grave,” Vijayan said in his daily press briefing.
On Thursday evening, Vijayan had warned the people of any kind of lethargy in their approach towards coronavirus pandemic and since then the State has seen more than hundred cases of the disease on each day.
Out of the 127 persons tested positive for the pandemic on Saturday, expatriates who returned to the State accounted for 87 cases while 36 persons returning to Kerala from other parts of the country too got infected with the virus, said the Chief Minister.
He said 3039 persons have been diagnosed with the pandemic while Saturday saw 288 patients getting admitted to the hospitals. “As on date a total of 1,450 persons have been admitted to hospitals with coviod-19. We have put 1.39 lakh persons under observation in the State,” said Vijayan.
There are 111 hotspots in the State which had claimed of flattening the corona curve in May 2020.
Meanwhile Kadakampalli Surendran, Kerala’s Minister for Tourism and Co-operation warned the people in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram for their ‘wanton’ attitude and violation of government guidelines.
“What is happening here? There are restrictions imposed on the number of people who could gather for social events and even death related rituals. Though the government has limited the number of persons who could gather for such events to 20, I myself has seen many times of that number coming together. This is being viewed seriously and I have instructed police to take serious actions against the violators,” said Surendran while speaking to reporters on Saturday.
E P Jayarajan, Minister for Industry and the de-facto number two in the council of ministers too sounded serious as he ordered total closure of Kannur city following unprecedented hike in the number of coronavirus cases.