Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 24 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the state recorded 152 coronavirus positive cases in the last 24 hours, which is highest ever on a single day so far.

"Of this, 98 people came from abroad, 46 were those who came from within the country and there were eight local infections. At present there are 1,691 positive patients, while in all 3,603 got this disease", said Vijayan.

Vijayan said starting Thursday all those arriving from the Middle East have to follow new guidelines and if anyone has a Covid negative certificate it should not be beyond 72 hours of departure.

"Those arriving from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have to wear PPE kit besides N95 mask, face shield and gloves. Those coming from UAE have to carry the certificate (facility is available for testing there) while those from Qatar should have green status on the App which is valid in their country. Those from Bahrain and Oman should have N95 masks, face shield and gloves," said Vijayan.

He said once they land at the airports in Kerala, all will have to abide by the health protocols that's in place.

"Those who do not come with a valid Covid negative certificate will have to undergo a rapid antibody test at the airport and those who are positive should then undergo either a RT-PCR or TrueNat test and whatever be the result, they will have to undergo 14 days quarantine. Those with any symptoms will be sent to hospitals. Any violation of quarantine would be dealt with strongly by enforcing the provisions in the Disaster Management Act," added Vijayan.