It was again over 7,000 COVID-19 cases in Kerala, with the State testing 50,000 samples and detecting 7,025 new cases on Sunday.
However, there was no let up in mortality. On Sunday, the Health department released data on 28 persons whose deaths were added to the official toll.
Of the 28 deaths reported, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kannur reported five deaths each, Alapuzha four, Kozhikode three, Thrissur and Palakkad two each, Malappuram and Ernakulam one death each.
Ernakulam district reported the maximum of 1,042 cases, Thrissur 943, Kozhikode 888, Kollam 711, Alapuzha 616, Thiruvananthapuram 591, Malappuram 522, Palakkad 435, Kottayam 434, Kannur 306, Pathanamthitta 160, Idukki 148, Kasaragod 143 and Wayanad 86.
Telangana recorded 1,416 more cases on Saturday. While 41,675 people were tested, results of 887 were awaited. Five more patients died.
The 1,416 new cases included 279 from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, 132 from Rangareddy, 112 from Medchal Malkajgiri, 82 from Nalgonda, 79 from Bhadradri-Kothagudem, and 74 each from Khammam and Karimnagar. The lowest of two cases were recorded from Narayanpet, while Nirmal had only seven fresh cases.
Andhra Pradesh reported 2,618 new infections and 16 deaths on Sunday.
Daily positivity of 82,405 samples was 3.19%, the lowest in months, and the overall positivity rate of 81.11 lakh samples tested remains at 10.18%.
Five districts reported no new deaths while Krishna reported four deaths, the highest. Chittoor and Guntur reported three deaths each while West Godavari, East Godavari and Srikakulam reported one death each.
In Karnataka, positive cases in October declined when compared to August and September, while testing increased.
On Sunday,3,652 new COVID-19 cases were reported.Twenty-four people across the State succumbed to the virus on Sunday.
The number of RT-PCR tests conducted in October rose to 18.43 lakh, compared to 11.05 lakh in September. The number of rapid antigen tests declined from 9.13 lakh in September to 8.59 lakh in October.
C.N. Manjunath, Director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and the nodal officer for labs and testing in the State’s COVID-19 task force, said that 68% of the tests in October were RT-PCR. “We have seen that the RT-PCR tests have better sensitivity and many people who had negative results in the rapid antigen tests tested positive in the RT-PCR test. However, the rapid antigen tests have complemented the testing strategy and reduced the burden on the RT-PCR tests as they give immediate results,” he added.
Health and Family Welfare Minister and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar said that the number of recoveries were more than new cases for the 18th consecutive day. On Sunday, the discharge rate in the state stood at 92.52 %.
(With inputs from Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Bengaluru bureaus)
