The State on Thursday reported 5,281 new cases of COVID-19 when 71,656 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, taking the cumulative case burden to 9,88,655.
While 42,866 of these tests were rapid antigen assay, RT-PCR tests numbered 26,172. Other molecular diagnostic tests such as Truenat and CBNAAT constituted the remaining tests.
The test positivity rate was 7.37%.
The active case pool has been decreasing steadily after a good number of recoveries daily. With 5,692 patients reported to have recovered from their disease, the active case pool has dropped to 63,915 cases.
The cumulative recoveries till date has risen to 9,20,539.
On Thursday, 16 more deaths were added to the official list of fatalities, taking the toll ever since the pandemic began to 3,936. Alappuzha reported six deaths; Kottayam three; Ernakulam and Kannur two each; Kollam, Thrissur and Kozhikode reported one each.
Official reports said the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients being treated in ICUs in various hospitals was 775, with 225 of them requiring ventilator support.
Among districts, Pathanamthitta topped with the maximum number of new cases at 694, Ernakulam 632, Kozhikode 614, Kollam 579, Malappuram 413, Kottayam 383, Thrissur 375, Alappuzha 342, Thiruvananthapuram 293, Kannur 251, Palakkad 227, Idukki 196, Wayanad 180 and Kasaragod 102.
