With the weekend lull affecting COVID-19 detection activities, daily testing dipped to 38,696 samples in the State, yielding 5,042 new cases on Monday. Test positivity rate, while it has dipped from 14.6 to 13 %, is still significantly high.
The number of recoveries reported on Monday was 4,640.
The cumulative case burden of the State climbed to 2,34,928 cases, of which, 84,873 are currently being treated in various hospitals in the State. Of these, 563 patients are critically ill and in ICUs, with another 159 on ventilator support.
So far, 1,49,111 persons have recovered from their disease.
The State’s COVID toll rose to 859, with 23 deaths which occurred in the State in the past few weeks being added on to the official list of COVID deaths. Ernakulam accounted for five deaths, Alappuzha four, three each in Kannur and Thrissur, two each in Kottayam, Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram and one each in Kollam and Kozhikode.
Over 97% of the new infections in the State – 4,911 out of the 5,042 new cases – are locally acquired, which includes infections reported in 110 health-care workers. Kannur reported the maximum number of infections among health-care workers at 35, Ernakulam 19 and Thiruvananthapuram 18. Of the new cases, in 450 cases, the source of infection remains untraceable.
Among districts, Ernakulam reported 705 cases, Thiruvananthapuram 700, Kozhikode 641, Malappuram 606, Kollam 458, Thrissur 425, Kottayam 354, Kannur 339, Palakkad 281, Kasaragod 207, Alappuzha 199, Idukki 71, Wayanad 31, and Pathanamthitta 25 cases.
Thiruvananthapuram currently has the highest number of active cases at 12,385. Two more districts have over 10,000 patients each, Ernakulam with 10,950 cases and Kozhikode with 10,030 cases. Kollam with a burden of 7,734 active cases and Thrissur with 7,416 cases are also beginning to give anxious moments to district administrators.
The number of hotspots in the State now is 722.
