Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac diagnosed with COVID-19

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19 after an antigen test. His swabs will be tested soon. Isaac, the first top leader in Kerala to test positive for the virus, has been admitted to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. Sources said he had no symptoms.

The source of his infection is also unknown.

Sources also sad that he was mostly conned to his official residence in Thiruvananthapuram for over a week. Besides his official duties as finance minister, Isaac had also been politically active on social media. He is also considered the Chief Minister's sharpest defenders, especially in the gold smuggling scandal.

Isaac has also taken upon himself to expose what he terms "fake news" in the mainstream media on his Facebook page. Though none of his office staff have been found positive, they have been asked to go into isolation. This is the first time a minister has contracted COVID-19 in Kerala

Last month, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and three other ministers had gone into self-quarantine after they came in the primary contact list of Malappuram district collector K. Gopalakrishnan who tested positive for the coronavirus infection.

Along with the CM, ministers K. K. Shailaja, A.C. Moideen, E. Chandrashekharan had gone into self-quarantine. However, none had tested positive.

Isaac tested positive on a day when the state recorded its highest single-day spike of COVID cases – 3,082. This is the first time the state's daily COVID tally crossed the 3,000-mark. The state also reported 2,196 recoveries on Sunday.

Of Sunday's cases, 2,844 contracted the disease through contact. Among them, the source of infection of 189 is yet to be traced. Fifty-six of the newly-infected came from abroad while 132 came from other states. There are 50 health workers among Sunday's positive cases.