Total 142 patients under  treatment

Thiruvananthapuram, May 19: 12 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Kerala today – five in Kannur district, three from Malappuram district, and one each in Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Thrissur and Palakkad districts. Four of them have come back from overseas (UAE-1, Saudi Arabia-1, Kuwait-1 & Maldives-1) and eight have returned from other States (Maharashtra-6, Gujarat-1 & Tamil Nadu-1).

No patient under treatment for Coronavirus cases has tested negative today. The total number of confirmed cases in Kerala is 642 and 142patients are now under treatment in different hospitals in the State.

There are 72,000 persons under surveillance across the State – 71,545 quarantined at their homes and 455 under isolation in hospitals. 119 persons were hospitalised today.

Till now, 46,958 samples have been sent for testing and the available results of 45,527 samples are negative. 1,297 samples were collected today. As part of sentinel surveillance of high-risk group, 5,630 samples were collected and tested separately. Of these, 5,340 samples have been confirmed with no infection.

Three places in Kannur district and one place in Kottayam district were declared as hotspots today. There are now 33 hotspots in the State.

Briefing the media, Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan said, “Kerala could control new cases for some time but now, with people coming in from abroad and other states, new cases have increased as expected. The next phase is community spread and to stop it, we will have to vigorously continue the Break the Chain methods, quarantine and reverse quarantine. So far only four cases have been detected through sentinel surveillance. That means till now there is not community spread in the State but there is no place for complacency.”

So far 74,426 people have arrived in Kerala with the Covid pass, 63,239 by road. Out of these, 44, 712 were from Red Zone districts. The remaining came by 26 flights and three ships.