Karnataka adds a record 2,313 cases, Kerala 416

Karnataka adds a record 2,313 cases, Kerala 416

Local transmission dominates Kerala tally; disease kills 57 in Karnataka; 64 die in T.N.; A.P. records 1,608 fresh cases and 15 deaths

The COVID­19 situation in Kerala appeared to be similar to any major metropolis, with community disease transmission defying containment efforts, the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said on Friday. The pace at which a ‘super spreader’ event had transmitted the disease across three urban wards in Thiruvananthapuram showed the speed of transmission in a small and densely populated State, he said here. Till Friday, the large number of daily cases were imported — people from abroad or other States.  But on Friday, the picture reversed. Of the 416 new cases, 242 were cases of localtransmission, while imported ones stood at 174. The disease was spreading across the camps of para military forces with 35 personnel of the ITBP in Alappuzha district, two jawans of the BSF in Thrissur and one CISF jawan in Kannur testing positive. With 112 recoveries, the number of active cases in hospitals was 3,099.  For the second day, the maximum number of fresh cases, 129, was from Thiruvananthapuram district, of which 122 were “contact” cases from local transmission. The number of patients in treatment in the district also shot up to 450. In another single­day spike of 1,608 fresh cases, besides 15 deaths in 24 hours, Andhra Pradesh’s tally went up to 25,422 and the death toll to 292. There were two deaths each in Anantapur, Chittoor, Guntur, Krishna and Kurnool and one death each in Nellore, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and West Godavari districts, the Health Department said. There were 11,936 active cases, and 13,194 recovered cases. Among the fresh cases, 1,576 were locals and

32 people from other States. Karnataka’s death toll touched 543 on Friday with 57 more fatalities. With 2,313 new cases, the highest for a

single day, the total stood at 33,418. Among new cases, 1,447 were in Bengaluru Urban and 29 of the 57 deaths were from Bengaluru and eight from Dakshina Kannada.3,680 new cases in T.N. Tamil Nadu added 3,680 new COVID­19 cases on Friday, taking its overall tally to 1,30,258. While another 4,163 persons were discharged after treatment, the State’s toll climbed to 1,829 with 64 more deaths including that of a one­year­and­seven­months old child being recorded. A total of 82,324 persons were discharged following treatment, while 46,105 were under treatment. Chennai’s daily count stood at the 1,200­mark.  (With inputs from Vijayawada, Bengaluru and Chennai bureaus)