Kerala reported 5,949 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday when 59,690 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, taking the State’s cumulative caseload to 6,64,632 cases. There is no let-up in test positivity rate and it went up slightly to touch 9.97 % .
With 5,268 patients reported to have recovered from their disease on Saturday, the active case pool in the State now stands at 60,029. So far, 6,01,861 persons are reported to have recovered from COVID-19 in the State.
The addition of another 32 deaths which occurred in the State over the past few days to the official death list by the Health Department pushed up the State’s cumulative COVID toll to 2,594. Ernakulam accounted for seven of these deaths, Kannur five, Malappuram and Thrissur four each, Wayanad three, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, and Kottayam two each, while Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, and Palakkad reported one death each.
Of the 5,949 new cases reported on Saturday, 5,866 are locally acquired infections, while in 83 cases, the department has reported a history of travel outside the State.
Amongst the locally acquired infections, 47 are infections contracted by health-care workers, while in 646 cases, an epidemiological link to the infection could not be established.
Among districts, Malappuram continues to top the tally with 765 cases on Saturday. Kozhikode has 763, Ernakulam 732, Kottayam 593, Thrissur 528, Alappuzha 437, Palakkad 436, Thiruvananthapuram 373, Kollam 354, Pathanamthitta 333, Wayanad 283, Kannur 169, Idukki 123, and Kasaragod 60 cases.
Minister’s warning
Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has warned of a spike in COVID-19 after the local body elections.
Speaking to reporters in Kasaragod on Saturday, she said an increased disease count means higher mortality and, hence, hospitals, health workers and the police had been put on alert.
