29 returnees from UK test positive for COVID;Over 6000 new cases in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 29 people who recently returned to Kerala from the UK have tested positive, Health Minister KK Shailaja said on Wednesday, as the State recorded over 6,268 new COVID-19 cases and 5,707 recoveries.
The samples of the UK returnees have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune to ascertain if it is the new variant, the minister said in a press release.
The total virus caseload has touched 7,55,717, while 6,87,104 people have been cured of the disease, and 65,394 are presently undergoing treatment, she said.
The toll in the state has climbed to 3,042 with 28 recent deaths being added to the tally after they were confirmed due to COVID.
As many as 2,47,725 people are presently under observation in various districts, including 12,116 in hospitals.
In the last 24 hours, 63,887 samples have been tested and the test positivity rate was 9.81 percent.So far, 78,53,651 specimens have been sent for testing.
Of the positive cases today, 54 are health workers, 102 had come from outside the state and 5,652 were infected through contact, according to the release.
Among the districts, Ernakulam accounted for 1,006 cases, the highest, followed by Pathanamthitta 714, Kozhikode 638 and Kollam 602.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
