Coronavirus forces Modi govt to defer NPR, first phase of Census

Mangaluru, Jul 17: Dakshina Kannada district Youth Congress president Mithun Rai has tested positive for the covid-19. 

Mr Rai took to social media to announce it: “I have been tested COVID19 positive & I am under Quarantine at Bangalore. With all your love and blessings, I will recover and be back soon at your service.

“My request to all those who were in close proximity with me in the last few days, kindly get yourselves checked for COVID,” he stated in a social media post on Friday.

Kanhangad, May 10: Kasaragod district has become free from COVID-19 on Sunday.

The last remaining patient has been tested negative for coronavirus, said district medical officer Dr. A. V. Ramdas.

He added that the officials are proud to have been able to cure all 178 COVID-19 patients in the district.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 24: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that there is no community spread or the expected phase three spread of coronavirus in the state so far but the threat continues.

Speaking to media persons here on Thursday, Vijayan said that Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, and Malappuram districts will be in the red zone with full restrictions.

"All the other ten districts in the State will be in the orange zone. With the detection of new cases today, the status of Kottayam and Idukki districts have been changed from green to orange. The district administration will decide on the hotspot areas to be closed," he said.

He said there would be an increase in the number of random tests in the red zones.

"In an effort to confirm that there is no community spread in the State, random antibody tests would be conducted among health workers, police personnel, home delivery persons, volunteers and migrant labourers," he added.

The Chief Minister said that COVID-19 labs set up at the Pariyaram Government Medical College at Kannur and the Kottayam Medical College have got the approval from the ICMR for coronavirus testing. The lab at Kannur Medical College will start functioning from Friday.

The UV sterilised lab, spread over 2,200 sq ft is equipped with four real-time PCR machines. In the first phase, this lab will be able to do 15 tests per day, which will be gradually increased to conduct 60 tests in the next phase.

"With the opening of these two new labs, tests to detect COVID-19 will be conducted in 14 government labs in Kerala. Apart from this, there are two private labs also in Kerala which are doing these tests. Since the number of coronavirus cases is again increasing in the State, the government has decided to procure ten real-time PCR machines to ramp up testing," he added.