Kannur native’s death takes toll to 6

49 more test positive, majority of them imported cases

Kerala recorded yet another COVID-19 death after a 61-year-old woman succumbed to the disease at Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, (MCH) on Monday night.

This is the sixth COVID-19-related death in the State.

The woman, a native of Dharmadom in Kannur, had several co-morbidities, including hypertension, and was being treated at a private hospital in Kozhikode, when she tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Following this, she was shifted to the MCH last week. The source of her infection is still unknown. She had been to other private hospitals in Thalassery also for treatment since April, it is learnt. The case had resulted in a family cluster with several members of her family also subsequently testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Surge in cases

COVID-19 cases continue to surge in Kerala, with 49 more testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 on Monday.

While 43 of these are imported cases of infection, brought in by expatriates and Non-Resident Keralites from other parts of the country, six persons are believed to have acquired infection from the community, through contact with unknown sources of infection.

The latter include two remand prisoners in Kannur and a health worker in Thiruvananthapuram district.

Kasaragod accounted for 14 of the new cases; Kannur 10; Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad five each; Kozhikode four; Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha three each; Kollam and Kottayam two each; and Idukki one.

Of the 43 imported cases, 18 were expatriates, while 25 had come from other parts of the State, particularly Maharashtra. A total of 12 recoveries were also reported on Monday. At present, 358 patients are undergoing treatment at various hospitals across the State, while 532 have recovered from the disease so far.

Four more regions in Palakkad and Kannur got into the list of hotspots on Monday. The State has a total of 59 hotspots at present.