Zika virus outbreak adds to Kerala's woes amid spurt in COVID-19 cases

Kerala confirmed three more cases of Zika virus infection taking the total count in the state to 18, it said in a press release.

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New Delhi: Kerala reported three more Zika virus infections on Sunday taking the total count in the state to 18 even as the southern state is already battling a spurt in fresh COVID-19 infections. 

In a press release, the new cases were confirmed by the state health department. "A 22-month-old toddler was found infected. A 46-year- old man and a 29- year-old health worker have also been found infected. We have 18 confirmed cases of infection in the state," the statement read.

The state Health Minister Veena George claimed that the government has arranged for testing facilities at several places in the state including Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kozhikode Medical colleges and National Institute of Virology (NIV) unit at Alappuzha. Around 2,100 test kits were received from NIV Pune and 1,000 have been given to Thiruvananthapuram, 300 each to Thrissur and Kozhikode and 500 to NIV in Alappuzha.

The minister said that instructions have been given to hospitals to test those patients, especially pregnant women, with fever, rashes and body pain. 

Meanwhile, the state had reported 14,087 fresh covid infections on Saturday and 109 deaths taking the total caseload to 30,39,029 and toll to 14,380. The active cases touched 1,13,115. The state is now seeing daily fresh cases between 12,000 to 15,000 with no end in sight to the ‘prolonged surge’, as some experts put it.