Kerala reported the highest number of Coronavirus COVID-19 cases in a single day today.
A total of 39 new cases were confirmed today, out of which 34 were reported from the Kasargode district adjoining Karnataka.
Within this 34, 21 people came from Dubai, while the remaining caught the infection from these people.
The number of fresh cases reported today is the highest ever.
On previous days, the number of fresh cases ranged from 9-29.
The situation in Kasargode district is worrying, and the government is preparing for more bad news to come from the area, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
“We are expecting more cases from Kasargode,” Vijayan said, adding that the local medical college building is being prepared to take COVID-19 patients.
He repeated the call for everyone coming from places like Dubai, Mumbai and Delhi to observe strict quarantine and not be in contact with anyone, including their family members.
“Coronavirus is not far. You have to take care of yourself if you do not want to communicate it,” he said.
He said he was disappointed to see careless behavior from some quarters, referring to a political worker from Idukki district who tested positive recently.
The local level politician traveled through every district of Kerala in the last few days, Pinarayi Vijayan said.
“It is startling to see his journey details. He has travelled from Kasargode [in the North] to Thiruvananthapuram” in the South, he said.
The local-level leader visited schools, government buildings, Kerala Secretariat and even the Legislative Assembly of Kerala.
He interacted with local administration officials, MLAs and senior government officials, Vijayan added.
“When everyone is supposed to be on the guard, is this what is expected of a public worker? This is a warning for all of us,” Vijayan said.
Vijayan also pointed out that Karnataka government has dumped soil on various points of connectivity between Kasargode and Karnataka. This, he said, has made it difficult for people in the northern part of the district to go for routine treatments such as dialysis at hospitals in Mangalore.
OVER 1 LAKH QUARANTINED
A total of around 1,10,300 people are under observation across the state, including people who have come from abroad and those who have interacted with known cases.
People who are at the highest risk of turning positive are being kept in hospitals. 112 such people were moved to isolation wards of hospitals today alone, Vijayan said, taking the total number of such people to 616 across Kerala.
The spurt in the number of cases has forced the government to redeploy some of the resources that were being earlier used to prepare route-maps and contact tracing.
Vijayan said that while Kerala government has so far taken a policy of not revealing the identities of the patients, the policy may be changed, given the high number of new cases.
“One thing that we have been able to note about the new cases is that the number of interactions are quite high,” he said, pointing to the near impossibility of sending officials to track down each and everyone of their contacts.
“We are considering revealing their name and details,” he said, as doing so will make it easier for people to figure out if they were in touch with a confirmed case or not, and come forward.
DUBAI SITUATION
After today’s numbers, the total number of confirmed cases from Kasargode district has jumped to over 80, out of which around 55 are from Dubai.
The situation in the emirate remains one of concern, given the high number of COVID-19 cases
Unlike most other places, the UAE does not give daily details of COVID-19 infections.
The last update was given two days ago, when the kingdom reported 85 new cases to take the total to 333.
Interestingly, there are around 150 Dubai-returnees among confirmed cases of Coronavirus in India. Many countries, including those in Africa, have reported multiple cases of infections among those coming from Dubai.
Dubai was comparatively late in putting in restrictions and lockdowns, despite the fact that it is one of the places most at risk due to the large number of travelers who pass through the city.