The COVID-19 pandemic curve in the State is on a long plateau. However, post lockdown, cases are beginning to show a rising trend in districts such as Kozhikode and Malappuram.
While a spurt in disease transmission in the community is to be expected when lockdown restrictions are lifted, it is important that clusters and local outbreaks are identified fast and containment measures strengthened. The active case pool and hospitalisations in the State are yet to show a significant decrease and a considerable number of people with moderate or severe COVID are still hospitalised daily. ICU and ventilator occupancy, while showing a declining trend, is moving down quite slowly.
TPR at 10.66%
On Saturday, Kerala reported 12,118 new cases of COVID-19 when 1,13,629 samples were tested in 24 hours. The test positivity rate has been hovering between 10% and 11% for the past few days and on Saturday was 10.66%.
The State’s active case pool continues to have around a lakh patients – 1,01,102 on Saturday – and this metric is also stagnant, especially with the State reporting as many new cases as recoveries every day. The number of recoveries on Saturday was 11,124.
Cumulative COVID-19 case fatality now stands at 12,817 with the State adding 118 recent deaths to the official list of COVID deaths on Saturday. The number of patients newly admitted to hospitals with COVID was 1,943 on Saturday, which took the total number of patients being treated for COVID in hospitals in the State to 26,298. Total ICU admissions of critically ill COVID patients, in both public and private hospitals, dipped from 2,368 on Friday to 2,317, with those patients requiring ventilator support dropping to 919.
Active cases have gone up in Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Thrissur — the five districts with over 10,000 patients in the active case pool. Hospitalisations are also going up in these districts. The cumulative case burden of the State now stands at 28,77, 989 cases.
Highest in capital
Thiruvananthapuram reported the highest number of new cases at 1,522, followed by Ernakulam 1,414, Malappuram 1,339, Thrissur 1,311, Kollam 1,132, Kozhikode 1,054, Palakkad 921, Alappuzha 770, Kasaragod 577, Kottayam 550, Kannur 535, Idukki 418, Pathanamthitta 345 and Wayanad 230.
