COVID-19: 65 employees in state secretariat test positive;

At least 65 employeesfrom various departments in the state secretariat have testedpositive for COVID-19, as Kerala logged 3,742 new cases and16 deaths on Monday, taking the caseload to 9,72,180 and tollto 3,883.

With several employees testing positive, authoritieshave issued directions to reduce the number of staff insidethe administrative complex to half in some sections includingthe Finance department.

The Health department suspects the rise in number ofinfections in the secretariat due to the recent election tocanteen posts that was conducted last week.

Around 4,200 employees had attended the electionthat was organised at the Darbar Hall, Secretariat.

A total of 5,959 people got cured of the diseasetoday, taking the total recoveries in the state to 9,02,627.

State Health minister K K Shailaja said 47,927samples were tested in the last 24 hours and the testpositivity rate was 7.81 per cent.

Till now, 1,01,44,253 samples have been tested.

The minister said one person who reached the statefrom the UK tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, taking thetotal UK returnees found infected to 81.

Earlier, 10 people from that country was foundinfected with the new strain of the virus.

There were 65,414 patients under treatment in thestate.

The minister said rpt said 2,24,759 people wereunder observation, out of which 10,664 were in isolation wardsof various hospitals.

''Out of those infected today, 72 reached the statefrom outside, while 3,379 contracted the disease through theircontacts.The source of infection of 264 are yet to be traced,while 27 health workers are also among the infected..,'' theminister said in a release.

Among the districts, Malappuram reported the highestof 503 cases today, followed by Ernakulam with 431.

Kozhikode reported 403, Thiruvananthapuram 380 andKottayam 363.

Seven regions were added while one was removed fromthe list of hotspots, taking its total number to 452 in thestate.PTI RRT BNADMINISTRATOR BNADMINISTRATOR