Kerala's 11 districts among 37 report rise in new Covid cases

New Delhi: Expressing concern over the rise in new Covid-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry has stated that there are 37 districts in the country which are still reporting increasing trend in daily new cases of coronavirus during the last two weeks.

According to the Health Ministry document, Kerala is still worst affected as 11 districts out of total 14 are reporting spike in new Covid-19 cases. The 11 districts of Kerala wherein new infections have been reported in the last two weeks include Malappuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Palakkad, Kollam, Kannur, Kasaragod, Wayanad, Pathanamthitta and Idukki.

The other state, which is reporting rise in fresh Covid-19 cases, is Tamil Nadu as the southern state's seven districts –Coimbatore, Chennai, Erode, Chengalpattu, Thiruvallur, Pudukkottai and Ariyalur –have reported spurt in new cases of coronavirus.

It seems the arrival of tourists in unprecedented numbers in Himachal Pradesh has led to the spurt in fresh Covid-19 cases in the hilly state as the state's is 6 out of 12 districts are reporting increase in Covid-19 cases. The districts of Himachal Pradesh reporting rise in Covid-19 cases are Hamirpur, Kangra, Bilaspur, Chamba, Mandi and Shimla.

Karnataka's five districts namely Kodagu, Uttara Kannada, Chamarajanagara, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi are reporting rise in fresh Covid-19 cases, while two districts each of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal are registering new Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks.

Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam and East Godavari, Maharashtra's Solapur and Beed and West Bengal's 24 Paraganas North and Nadia districts are reporting rise in Covid-19 cases.

Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills and Mizoram's Saiha district has also reported rise in fresh Covid-19 cases.

At a press briefing on the pandemic, officials said the reproduction number or R number that indicates the speed at which COVID-19 is spreading is more than 1 in five states –Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh –which remains a cause for concern.

Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Nagaland have their reproduction number at 1, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said. For India, it is around 1, he said.

The Reproduction number or Rt refers to how many people an infected person infects on average. In other words, it can tell how efficiently a virus is spreading, Agarwal explained.