In an attempt to open up resume tourism activities within the state after the pandemic, Kerala has restarted houseboat tourism after a long time in Kottayam as Covid-19 situation has shown slight improvement. However, after the pandemic the tourist footfall isn't high with 70% of the tourists coming from Kerala, while 30% coming from outside Kerala, according to a houseboat business employee. He added that after Omicron, bookings for January have also dropped.
The move comes at a time when Kerala on Wednesday logged 2,846 new Covid-19 infections and 211 deaths, which took the caseload to 52,30,249 and the fatalities to 47,277 till date. Of the 211 deaths, 12 were recorded over the last few days and 199 designated as Covid-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.
With 2,576 more people recovering from the virus since Tuesday, the total recoveries reached 51,73,656 and the active cases dropped to 20,456, the release said. As many as 69,852 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. Among the 14 districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest with 526 fresh cases, followed by Thiruvananthapuram (507) and Kozhikode (348). Of the new cases, 27 were health workers, 20 from outside the State and 2,678 infected through contact with the source of it not being clear in 121.
There are currently 1,12,284 people under surveillance in various districts, of whom 1,08,593 are in home or institutional quarantine and 3,691 in hospitals, the release said.
Meanwhile, in the adjoining state of Karnataka reported 566 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths on Wednesday, taking the total number of infections to 30,05,798 and the toll to 38,324. The day also saw 245 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 29,59,674, a health department bulletin said. With 400 cases, Bengaluru Urban topped the list as the city saw 130 discharges and four deaths.
(With inputs from agencies)
