Kerala’s COVID-19 case trajectory seemed to take a dip in what is viewed as the direct result of the stringent lockdown-like restrictions and public response to the crisis.
“The case numbers will grow but epidemic curve is slowing down, except may be in two or three districts. It effectively means that while the graph will continue to rise, the peak will not be as steep as we thought it is going to be,” a senior public health professional said.
But the situation continued to be grim, as oxygen beds and ICUs were getting filled up. Rise in ICU admissions was becoming evident with 118 more critically ill persons in intensive care on Saturday.
The State added 35,636 new cases on Saturday from 1,46,474 samples.
The average test positivity rate (TPR) had not gone beyond 25% over the past three-four days and dipped to 24.33%.
On Saturday, the State added 48 deaths from the past few days.
This included 20 deaths from Thrissur, 15 from Palakkad, five from Kollam, three from Kannur, two from Thiruvananthapuram and one death from Malappuram.
Andhra Pradesh had a fresh new daily high of 19,412 infections on Saturday, and 61 patients succumbed to COVID-19.
During the past day, 98,214 samples were tested, the highest number and a majority of them RT-PCR tests. The positivity rate was 19.77%.
Telangana had comparatively low testing for the fourth day, and fewer cases. On Friday, the State recorded 7,754 cases after testing 77,930 samples.
At 51 deaths, fatalities remained above the 50 mark.
The highest new cases of 1,507 were from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, followed by 630 in Medchal Malkajgiri, 544 in Rangareddy and 325 in Sangareddy.
Karnataka on Saturday reported 40,990 new cases 19,353 of which were from Bengaluru Urban. There were 271 fresh deaths.
The TPR for the day stood at 23.03%.
The State conducted 1,77,982 tests, including 1,64,703 RT-PCR tests.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Bengaluru bureaus)
