There is some good news on the COVID-19 front from Kerala. On Sunday, after a long gap, the number of those who tested COVID-19 negative outnumbered the number of positive cases in a day in the state—More people recovered from the virus in a day than the number of new people who were infected.
While 54 new infections were reported on Sunday, 56 persons who were COVID-positive tested negative today. It is for the first time in the last month that the new negative cases have outnumbered the positive ones.
The number of positive cases has been on a steady climb ever since NRKs started coming into the state from hot spots across the world and from other states. As many as 2,40,277 NRKs have reached the state in the last one month and most of them have come from red spots and this has led to a dramatic increase in the number of cases.
With 56 persons turning negative today, the number of persons cured reached 1340. There are 1,101 persons undergoing treatment in various hospitals across the state.
The maximum number of cases was reported from Kozhikode district (8) followed by Ernakulam and Thrissur districts (7). Out of the 54 new cases, 23 are NRKs who came from the Gulf and 25 are among those who came from other states. Eight have become COVID positive through contacts.
Meanwhile, CM Pinrayi Vijayan has requested PM Narendra Modi to provide facilities for NRIs to get tested before taking flights towards India. The CM has requested that embassies in respective countries should provide free tests to NRIs who are not in a position financially to get it done by themselves. It is not safe to allow those people who are COVID negative and positive to travel together. Ideally, those who are negative should be brought in a separate flight, the CM said.
Kerala has issued an order insisting that only those who are COVID positive should be allowed to take the Chartered flights heading towards the state. The mingling of COVID positive and negative people would lead to a drastic increase in the number of positive cases, health experts had pointed out.
