Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja on Saturday said that 58 new coronavirus cases were reported in the southern state, including seven more Air India cabin crew.

As on date, she said, there are 624 corona patients under treatment. As many as 575 patients have so far been cured.

It was on May 7 that the air evacuation operations began from the Middle East.

On Friday, the first case of two Air India cabin crew testing corona positive had surfaced. So, nine cabin crew of Air India have so far tested positive.

Kerala has four international airports where evacuation flights had landed.

Of the 58 new cases, 17 were returnees from abroad, and 31 returnees from within India. Only 2 cases were of local infections.

As on date, 1,28,953 people are quarantined at homes and 1,204 in various hospitals.

Shailaja said that in the past 24 hours 3,206 samples was send for testing.

On Saturday, five more hot spot areas was added, taking the total numbers in the state to 106.

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In a related development, the relatives of a patient who died of Covid on Friday at the Kottayam Medical College Hospital have written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Shailaja to allege serious lapses in the treatment at Pathanamthitta's state-run hospital.

Shailaja on Friday had claimed that the patient was obese and diabetic.

The 68-year-old person had visited UAE and returned on May 11. He was moved from an isolation facility to the Pathanamthitta hospital on May 18 and to Kottayam Medical College Hospital on May 25.

The bereaved family claimed that even though it was said that the treatment is free, they had shelled out over Rs 80,000 for his treatment.

The hospital authorities however denied any lapses and said everything was done according to the WHO guidelines.

First Published:May 30, 2020 7:04 PM IST