Kerala clocks 4,545 fresh COVID-19 cases, 23 deaths push toll to 3,302
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala reported 4,545 new COVID-19 cases and 23 related fatalities on Sunday taking the overall tally of infections in the state to 8,11,148 and the death toll to 3,302.
State Health Minister KK Shailaja said the state government has tested 45,695 samples in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate is 9.95 percent.
"Till now, 84,51,897 samples have been tested in the state. Three more persons who reached from the UK have been tested positive on Sunday taking the total number of affected persons from that country to 53," Minister said in a release.
Earlier, six people from the UK have been tested positive for the new strain of the virus.
"Out of the new cases today, 78 reached the state from outside, while 4,003 contracted the disease through their contacts. The source of infection of at least 422 is yet to be traced. As many as 42 health workers are also among the infected," the minister said.
Meanwhile, 4,659 people have recovered from the disease taking the total recoveries in the state to 7,43,467.
"Currently, there are 64,179 persons under treatment," the release said.
Among the districts, Ernakulam reported 650 new cases on Sunday, followed by Kozhikode with 558, Pathanamthitta (447), and Malappuram (441).
Kasaragod recorded the lowest number of cases--43.
"There are 2,03,935 people under observation in the state out of which 10,954 persons are in isolation wards of various districts," the release said.
Three regions were added and one was removed from the list of hotspots in the state taking the total number to 441.
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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.
