Shaking off the temporary deceleration in its progress during the Onam season, the State’s COVID-19 daily case graph shot up again to touch 2,655 on Saturday, in proportion to the sharp increase in testing post Onam which reached 40,162 in the past 24 hours.
The number of recoveries reported on the day was 2,111.
The cumulative case burden has reached 84,759. With the total number of recoveries reaching 62,559, the number of active cases at present is 21,800.
Eleven more deaths which occurred between August 17 and September 1 were added on to the “provisional COVID death list” on Saturday, taking the toll to 337. These deaths will be re-assessed by the State death audit committee, only after which the State will accept these as “confirmed COVID deaths.”
Four deaths each were reported in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam and the rest in Thrissur, Kasaragod and Kannur.
Yet again, 94% of the new cases – 2,503 out of the 2,655 new cases – are locally acquired infections, with 220 cases having no known epidemiological link. The number of health-care workers affected is 61.
Thiruvananthapuram leads with an all-time high of 590 cases, of which all except three cases are locally acquired infections.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, briefing the media, said the focus of disease transmission in the district had moved away from the coastal belt into the urban areas and that new cases were being reported from various parts of the district. The district also has the highest burden of active cases in the State at 5,044 cases. More vigil was needed in the capital district to contain disease transmission, he said.
Kasaragod, which did not record a single death in the first two phases of the epidemic, has registered 42 deaths in the third phase.
Disease transmission is steadily progressing in all districts and is likely to intensify in the next two weeks when the impact of relaxations given during Onam becomes evident.
Kasaragod reported 276 cases, Malappuram 249, Kozhikode 244, Kannur 222, Ernakulam 186, Kollam 170, Thrissur 169, Pathanamthitta 148, Alappuzha 131, Kottayam 119, Palakkad 100, Idukki 31 and Wayanad 20.
The number of hotspots at present is 551.
