Kerala Covid-19 Tracker: 82 new cases & 24 recoveries today, total 832 patients under treatment

Six new hotspots, total 128

 Thiruvananthapuram, June 03: Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan has informed that 82 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the State today. 53 among these new cases are people have come back from foreign countries and 19 from other States. Five are health workers and five have got infected through primary contact. At the same time, 24 patients under treatment for Coronavirus have recovered from the infection today.

 14 persons from Thiruvananthapuram district, 11 in Malappuram district, nine from Idukki district, eight in Kottayam district, seven each from Alappuzha and Kozhikode districts, five each in Palakkad, Kollam and Ernakulam districts, four in Thrissur district, three from Kasargod district and two each in Pathanamthitta and Kannur districts are those who have tested positive for Covid. The country-wise numbers of who came from abroad are Kuwait-30, UAE-17, Tajikistan-2, Jordan-1, Qatar-1, Saudi Arabia-1 and Oman-1. Maharashtra-8, Tamil Nadu-6, Delhi-3 and Karnataka-2 are the state-wise numbers. The five health workers are three in Kollam district and one each from Kozhikode and Kasargod districts.

 Six patients from Thiruvananthapuram district, five from Kozhikode district, four in Kasargod district, three from Kottayam district, two each in Kollam and Kannur districts and one each from Alappuzha and Thrissur districts are those who tested negative today.

 1,494 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the State so far and presently, 832 patients are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

 There are 1,60,304 people are under observation across the State. Of these, 1,440 are in hospitals and 1,58,864 are under surveillance at their homes or at institutional quarantine centres. 241 persons were admitted to the hospital today.

 4,004 samples were sent for testing today. So far, 73,712 samples have been sent for testing and 69,606 samples have been confirmed with no infection. Apart from this, as part of Sentinel Surveillance of high exposure group, 16,711 samples were collected and 15,264 samples have tested negative.

 Six new places were declared as hotspots today taking the total number of hotspots in the State to 128.

No restrictions on flights to bring back stranded Pravasies to Kerala:  CM

Thiruvananthapuram, June 03: Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today announced that there are no restrictions on evacuation flights to Kerala. The State government has given permission for 700 flights this month to bring back the stranded Pravasi Malayalees from other countries. The State has agreed to 360 flights under the Vande Bharat mission Phase II, 40 chartered flights from the Gulf countries and 300 flights by SpiceJet.

 Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said, “All those who desire to come back to Kerala will be brought and they will be taken care off here. There are no restrictions on the number of flights coming to the State. Under the Phase II of Vande Bharat mission, 36 flights have been scheduled from June 03 to 10. Another 324 flights may be scheduled over the month. We are ready to give permission for more flights under the Vande Bharat mission. Permission has also been given for 40 chartered flights. If any organisation wants to charter a flight to Kerala, there are two conditions. One, the flight charges should be close to the Vande Bharat fare. There should not be a big disparity. Two, the allocation of seats should be given to the priority group, as announced by the State government earlier.”

 The government has also given permission to SpiceJet to fly 300 flights to the State from abroad, ten flights per day. The only condition set by SpiceJet is that passengers will have to present Covid negative test results.

 Between May 7 and June 2, 24,333 people have arrived by 140 flights and 1,488 passengers by three ships, making it a total of 25,821.

 Those who have lost their jobs, those who have expired visa visas, pregnant women, elderly persons with other illnesses and children who have been separated from their families fall in the priority group.

State to ensure that no student will miss online classes

 Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today gave the assurance that no student studying in a government school will miss the online classes on account of not having TV or smartphone at home. The government is making arrangements for about 2.26 lakh students in government schools who don’t have TV or Internet access.

 Briefing the media, the Chief Minister said, “There are about 41 lakhs students in government schools in the State, not including the Plus One students. June is the time for starting the new academic year and in the Covid scenario, the Education Department devised the plan for online classes through the Victers TV Channel and the social media accounts of Victers channel. There has been a good response to the initial day’s online classes from students and parents alike. As per the Education Department, 2,26,784 students do not have access to the online class facility. Local Self Government bodies, Teachers, PTAs and Kudumbasree are taking efforts to arrange online class facilities for these children. The Education Department has also sought the support of all MLAs in addressing this issue. Arrangements are being made to view classes in public areas such as a library, community centres, etc.”

 The CM also informed that apart from KSFE, Beverages Corporation has decided to sponsor 500 TV sets for students. Many student organizations and youth organizations are participating in these activities. The first two weeks are trial telecast and this will be repeated so that students don’t miss any online class. He emphasised that the online classes are a temporary arrangement until the schools reopen. Regular classes will start as soon as the situation improves. “There is no alternative to school education and such learning is essential for the mental development of children”, he added.

 He described the death of a ninth-grade student as painful. The Department of Education is also investigating the incident after her father said the child was upset because the online class was not available. A preliminary investigation by the Department found that 25 of the Malappuram Irumbiliyam Government high school's children did not have Internet or TV facilities.

 Minister of Health & Social Justice, Smt K K Shailaja; Revenue Minister, Shri E Chandrasekharan, and Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta IAS, were also present for the briefing.

Wildlife crime investigation team to examine elephant torture incident

Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today declared that a preliminary investigation has been launched into the elephant torture incident at Mannarkad Forest Division. A wildlife crime investigation team from Kozhikode has been dispatched to the place of the incident for further investigation. “Police have been instructed to take strict action against the culprits”, he said.