If Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka kept their focus on mortality and rise in fresh cases, Kerala was looking at potential community transmission of COVID-19 on Friday. Ten people died in Karnataka and an equal number in Andhra Pradesh.
Kerala reported 150 new cases on Friday. With 65 recoveries also reported, the number of active cases stood at 1,846, all under treatment in hospitals.
While 139 new cases were imported, in people who had returned from abroad or other States, 11 got the disease from the community through local transmission.
Of the 11 cases of local transmission, one was that of a health worker in Palakkad district, and another a Central Industrial Security Force member at Kannur.
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Five local transmission cases were reported in Thiruvananthapuram, where large areas were declared containment zones after nearly 10 persons, including a family cluster of eight, acquired COVID-19 from the community. The Health department had not established an epidemiological link for these cases.
In Kannur too, six out of the 13 who tested positive were members of the CISF, while three were employees of the Army canteen. Two of the CISF personnel had been on duty at the Kannur airport.
Palakkad district had the maximum number of COVID-19 patients on treatment, at 237, followed by Malappuram (191), Kollam (183), Pathanamthitta (177), Kannur (157), Alapuzha (154), Ernakulam (153), Thrissur (126), Kasaragod (106), Kottayam (114), Thiruvananthapuram (84), Kozhikode (80), Idukki (50) and Wayanad (34).
Since COVID-19 arrived in Kerala, 3,876 persons had tested positive, of whom 2,006 had recovered.
With 10 more deaths in Karnataka, the toll rose to 180. Although non-COVID deaths went up to five, including that of a 60-year-old woman at K.C. General hospital, the Health Department was yet to take note of it in its update.
While three deaths were in Bengaluru [on June 11, 12, and 25], one each was reported from Kolar, Dharwad, Shivamogga, Bagalkot, Bidar, Kalaburagi, and Ballari.
Also, 445 new cases were reported, taking positive patient numbers to 11,005.
While 80 of 445 new cases had no contact or travel history, 144 were Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) cases. Bengaluru Urban again had the highest - 144.
Andhra Pradesh witnessed 10 more COVID-19 deaths and 605 fresh cases, the highest on a single-day taking the tally to 11,489. The toll rose to 146.
Among total cases, 9,353 were of locals while 1,764 were of people from other States and 372 foreign returnees.
Overall, there were 6,147 active patients, and recoveries rose to 5,196 including 208 fresh discharges.
Most new deaths were in Kurnool and Krishna districts at four cases each. Guntur and Visakhapatnam reported one death each.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Bengaluru and Chennai bureaus)
