13 new COVID-19 cases,equal number of negative cases in Kerala

: Kerala continued to witness a spike in COVID-19 cases with 13 people, including a U.S returned teenaged girl testing positive on Monday, taking the total number of cases in the state so far to 481.

The new cases were from Kottayam 6, Idukki 4, Palakkad, Malappuram and Kannur one each,Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters here.

With cases from Kottayam and Idukki rising in the past two days,the government hasincluded the two districts in the Red zone.

With this there are totally six districts in the zone.

Two panchayats from Idukki and four from Kottayam have been included in the list ofhotspots.

A 17-year-old girl who had returned from the U.S on March22, a 14-year-old girl who came to the state with her parents, a 38-year-old man from Tirupur and a 60-year-old man are the four positive cases from the high range Idukki district.

In Kottayam, a truck driver and a relative of a health worker from Thiruvananthapuram were among the affected.

Five of those who tested positive are from Tamil Nadu, one person had come from abroad and the others had been infected through contact, the Chief Minister said.

It was not yet clear from where one person had been infected, Vijayan said.

He said the number of those who tested negative for the virus were also 13 in the state.

There are 123 active cases, while 355 have been cured.

Over 20,000 peopleare under observation, including over 489 in various hospitals.

So far 23,271 samples have been sent for testing and 22,537 have returned negative.

Vijayan said there are at least four lakh guest workers in the state and they can be sent to their respective states in phases.

The government on Monday informed the Centre that the State would adopt a cautious approach on lifting the lockdown after May 3 and favours having a partial lockdown till May 15.

Meanwhile, 3864 cases were registered for lockdown restrictions in Kerala, 3868 people arrested and 2410 vehicles seized, police said.