Karnataka recorded 12 deaths on Thursday, the highest on a single day, and Andhra Pradesh two.
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There were 97 new COVID-19 cases and one more COVID death of an apparently healthy 28-year-old in Kerala, prompting Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan to lament that there seemed to be a total let-up in the vigil in the State.
With 89 persons reported to have recovered from the disease, the number of active cases in Kerala stood at 1,358. Though a total of 2,794 persons were diagnosed with COVID-19 since the outbreak began, the number of recoveries were high at 1,413.
Mr. Vijayan said that post-lockdown, despite repeated warnings about the gravity of the situation, people seemed to go about their business as usual, without social distancing or adequate hand sanitising. This called for stringent interventions from the Government, he added.
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The death of the 28-year-old youth at Kannur, whose infection could not be traced to a particular source, was a warning that no one was safe from the virus.
Of the 97 new cases, all except three were diagnosed in people who had returned from abroad and other States. Three persons were believed to have contracted COVID-19 through local transmission.
The State had put 1,26,839 individuals on surveillance and quarantine, 1,967 of them isolated in hospitals.
Growing incidence of COVID-19 infection among residents and those coming from abroad and other States in Andhra Pradesh more than doubled the case number since June 1.
Since Wednesday, 425 fresh cases and two deaths were reported taking the case tally to 7,496 and toll to 92, the State bulletin said. Both deaths were in Krishna district, which had the highest mortality rate of 3.42%.
During the ‘Unlock 1’ so far, between June 1 and June 18, the State reported 3,925 cases, representing 52% of the total cases. The other 3,571 were reported between March 12 and May 31.
Of the total, 3,772 persons had recovered including 131 new recoveries in the past day and 3,632 persons were under treatment.
Also, 5,854 cases (78%) of the total cases were of locals and the remaining 22% of foreign returnees (289) and migrant returnees and people from other States (1353).
Most new local cases were in Anantapur (62), Kurnool (50) and West Godavari (38) districts.
With 12 deaths on Thursday, the toll in Karnataka touched 114 and this was apart from the four non-COVID deaths. Eight of the deaths were from Bengaluru Urban, causing concern, and one each was reported from Koppal, Bidar, Vijayapura and Kalaburgi.
Except for one death of a 31-year-old man in Bengaluru on Thursday, the rest occurred from June 6 onwards but were not recorded late.
Meanwhile, 210 new cases were reported on Thursday taking the total number of positive cases to 7,944.
While 21 of the 210 cases were returnees from UAE, 58 were inter-State passengers. Also, 48 each were from Ballari and Kalaburagi.
(With inputs from Vijayawada and Bengaluru bureaus)
