The six southern district of Kerala saw a huge leap in COVID-19 case count on Tuesday with 31 people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus. The capital district recorded its third death with the passing away of a 77-year-old priest who tested positive just hours before his death.
The day’s figure is over a 100% jump from that on Monday when 15 cases were reported from the region.
The priest who died was a Nalanchira native who was initially admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) here on April 20 with head injuries after he fell off a motorcycle. Following his treatment that lasted for a month, he was shifted to the Peroorkada District Hospital where he was placed under observation on May 20. However, he was referred to the MCH again after he complained of breathing difficulty. He was confirmed dead on Tuesday morning shortly before his throat swab test returned positive for the virus.
The development has left authorities in the dark about the source of the infection. The capital reported six imported COVID-19 cases, taking the total cases here to 54. The patients included five men, aged 35 to 53, from Mariyanad, Kallara, Attingal, Beemapally and Venjaramoodu, and a 38-year-old woman from Puthenthope. While four were transferred to the MCH from the Thiruvananthapuram airport, two others were sent to institutional quarantine.
10 cases in Alappuzha
One-third of the cases in the southern region was from Alappuzha. All 10 cases are imported ones — seven from foreign countries and three from other States. One of the patients, a youth from Pandanad, came from Dubai on May 27. Another from Muthukulam came from Abu Dhabi on May 17. The third patient, a man from Mannar, came from Kuwait on May 14. Four others flew in from Kuwait on May 26. They include a 51-year-old man from Mavelikara Thekkekara, a youth from Chingoli, and two women from Kadakkarappally and Mannancherry. A youth, from Thazhakara, came by a train from Maharashtra on May 27. The other two, a youth and a girl from Chengannur, came from Pune on May 26.
Eight from Kollam
Eight persons in Kollam tested positive on Tuesday. The patients include a 28-year-old woman and her one-year-old son who reached Kerala on AI-1596 Kuwait-Thiruvananthapuram flight on May 28. The others include a 39-year-old from Chavara who travelled on a Thiruvananthapuram-Abu Dhabi flight on May 26, a 50-year-old Mukhathala resident who came from Dubai on May 29, a 41-year-old Pathanapuram resident who came from Abu Dhabi on May 27, and a 32-year-old from Ayalamon who travelled on a Saudi Arabia-Thiruvananthapuram flight on May 31.
Another patient, a pregnant Pattazhy resident who travelled from Dubai on May 31, is undergoing treatment at SAT Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
A 35-year-old woman who reached Kochi on INS Magar from the Maldives on May 12 also tested positive on Tuesday. Her sample was collected two times and while the first sample tested negative on May 29, the second sample taken on May 30 tested positive.
COVID case in Kottayam
The district witnessed six fresh cases of COVID-19 even as seven people were discharged from hospital after recovery. All of them came from abroad. The persons who tested positive on Tuesday included five women who came from Kuwait. Four among them — a 36-year-old and 30-year-old from Panchaikkad, a 32-year-old from Manjoor, and a 31-year-old from Erumely, landed on May 25 while the fifth person, a 27-year-old nurse from Pariyaram, reached here the next day. The sixth person, who was confirmed of the virus, was an 82-year-old man from Idayirikkapuzha. The people who recovered included a 79-year-old man and his 71-year-old wife from Nalukodi and a 30-year-old relative of the couple.
Pathanamthitta
The number of patients here has gone up to 53 with one more Non-Resident Keralite testing positive. Twenty one of them were cured as of Tuesday. The man who tested positive was a 30-year-old who came to Kannur on a special flight from Abu Dhabi on May 23.
A total of 65 persons remained under observation at isolation wards in hospitals and 4,246 persons were quarantined.
