It is feared that Kerala might have shown signs of community transmission of the novel coronavirus as the state authorities have been struggling to identify sources of infection of as many as eight COVID-19 patients.

State Health Minister K K Shailja, however, ruled out any such possibility, while agreeing that the authorities were finding it difficult to identify the source of many contacts.

"Those who have turned positive at Kottayam and the two nurses in the state capital district... the source is still not ascertained, so is of one case each at Palakkad and Kozhikode. Then there are two cases, both of who passed away at Thiruvananthapuram and a four-month-old child, whose source is also unknown," she said.

"Even though we have these untraced cases, we can safely say that there has been no community spread or a third wave of the virus in our state."

Shailaja, however, said that in the state, even doctors and other medical professionals are turning positive, raising a reason for worry. "There are fears being raised about the efficacy of the security kits used by the medical professionals," she added.

She also said the daily number of tests has also gone up. On Sunday itself, 3,000 tests were done and everything is being done to see that there is no community spread, she said.

(With inputs from IANS)