Kerala’s cumulative burden of COVID-19 rose to 9,17,360 cases on Friday when the State reported 6,268 cases.
A total of 58,815 samples was tested in the past 24 hours. The test positivity rate on the day was 10.66%.
With 6,398 patients reported to have recovered from their disease, the active case pool of the State has come down slightly to 72,239 cases. The cumulative recoveries reported in the State till date has risen to 8,41,444.
On Friday, 22 more deaths were added to the official list of COVID fatalities, taking the State’s COVID toll ever since the pandemic began to 3,704 deaths.
Thiruvananthapuram reported seven deaths, Kottayam and Kozhikode four each, Ernakulam three, while Pathanamthitta, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kannur reported one death each.
As on Friday, official reports say the number of critically ill COVID patients being treated in ICUs in various hospitals across the State is 802, with 235 of them requiring ventilator support.
Among districts, Ernakulam retains the top spot in districts, reporting 865 new cases, Kozhikode 710, Kollam 674, Kottayam 623, Thrissur 497, Pathanamthitta 447, Alappuzha 421, Malappuram 414, Thiruvananthapuram 414, Kannur 349, Idukki 302, Palakkad 259, Wayanad 173 and Kasaragod 120 cases.
UK virus variant
Over the past one month or more, a total of 75 persons who reached the State from the UK has tested positive for COVID-19. Official reports say 53 of them have since tested negative.
So far, only 10 persons tested positive for the virus variant B.1.1.7 first reported in the UK that is said to be highly transmissible.
