Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala''s COVID-19 tally crossed the grim milestone of two lakh on Thursday as the state reported 8,135 fresh cases while the toll climbed to 771 with 29 deaths. Kerala, which has been witnessing a rapid spike in new cases in recent weeks, had crossed the one lakh mark on September 11, seven months after India''s first case was reported from the state, when a Wuhan returned medical student tested positive. The total cases touched 1.50 lakh on September 24 with the pace of the spread further increasing, prompting the state government to warn of strict action against those not following preventive measures such as social distancing and wearing of masks.
Health workers continued to be affected in large numbers with 105 more among those who tested positive on Thursday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. This is the second consecutive day that the state has reported over 8,000 cases. On Wednesday, 8,830 cases, including 123 health workers, were detected in the biggest single day spike so far. In the last 24 hours, a total of 59,157 samples were tested, taking the cumulative specimens screened so far to 29,85,534, Vijayan told reporters here. Of the fresh cases, as many as 7,013 had contracted the disease through contact and the source of infection of 730 people was not known, he said. As many as67 had come from abroad and 218from other states. While the Covid count touched 2,03,241, a total of 1,31,052 people have recovered, including 2,828 on Thursday.
At least 72,339 people were presently undergoing treatment for the infection, which has been spreading fast in the state in the past few weeks. Kozhikode reported the highest number of cases at 1,072, followed by Malappuram (968) and Ernakulam (934). Thiruvananthapuram accounted for856, most of them below 40 years of age, Vijayan said. As many as 771 have succumbed to the virus, he said, adding of the fatalities reported on Thursday, the deceased were aged between 92 and 45 years. A total of 2,43,107 people were under observation, including 30,258 in varioushospitals, the chief minister said.
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