Kerala witnesses spike in COVID-19 cases as 26 more test positive

Barely a week after the Kerala government declared that the COVID-19 curve has been flattened, the state on Thursday saw a sharp spike in positive cases with 26 people, including 7 foreign returnees and a police personnel getting infected, taking the total to 560.

The active cases, the number of people under treatment, also rose to 64 compared to just 16 on last Friday, when only a solitary fresh infection was reported.

At least 100- odd policemen have been quarantined in Wayanad and Palakkad districts.

"The rise in the number of new cases are an indication of the crisis we are facing.

But we are confident that we can overcome this pandemic and we will use all the resources at our disposal to tackle thesituation," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said adding that the state would be rolling out a specialised treatment protocol.

On May 8, Vijayan had declared that the state has flattened the curve, but cautioned it needed to be careful to avoid another wave of the deadly virus while but asserting his government was ready to fight it in such an event.

On Thursday, three Congress MPs -- T N Prathapan, V K Sreekandan and Ramya Haridas and MLAs Shafi Parambil and Anil Akkara, all from Palakkad and Thrissur districts, have been asked be under home quarantine as they were suspected to have come into contact with a man at Walayar checkpost who later tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.

The Congress leaders had staged a protest at Walayar check-post, bordering Tamil Nadu, on May 9 accusing the LDF government of showing "apathy towards Keralites stranded across the border and overseas."
Vijayan, however, lashed out at the leaders and said, "they should have behaved in a responsible manner" instead of visiting the state border for a "political drama."