Kerala, which had declared itself as Covid-free in May 2020, faces the prospects of equalling or even overtaking  neighbouring Tamil Nadu in the number of Covid-19 patients in the coming weeks. The State on Wednesday diagnosed 5,376 new patients, the highest number of positive cases to be registered on a single day.

The State also registered 20 fatalities in a single day, highest number to be registered in a 24 hour period till date. Disclosing the official figures to the media on Wednesday evening, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the situation in the State is serious. “There are 42, 286 Covid-19 patients across the State on Wednesday who are under treatment. Out of the 5,376 patients diagnosed with the pandemic on Wednesday, 4,424 contracted  the disease through social contacts. There are 852 patients in Thiruvananthapuram and the situation in the capital city is grievous,” said Vijayan.

The day also saw V S Sunil Kumar, minister for agriculture, testing positive for coronavirus. Vijayan blamed the agitations led by the BJP and the Congress throughout the State for the hike in the number of patients. “It is because of the violation of the norms by the opposition parties that the disease has spread all over the State and the number of patients went up,” said Vijayan who also said that many of the participants  in the agitations had tested positive.

The Chief Minister also disclosed that the day saw 99 health workers and policemen testing positive.

The number of new persons tested positive on Wednesday was higher than 5,337 patients in Tamil Nadu as on Tuesday. On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu had 46,350 Covid-19 patients while the tally in Kerala reached 42, 286 on Wednesday evening.