1,054 new cases in State

Kerala reported 1,054 new cases of COVID-19 when 38,410 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, taking the State’s cumulative case burden, ever since the pandemic began, to 10,92,324 cases on Monday.

The dip in new cases on Mondays has been a phenomenon in Kerala since long as testing dips by nearly half the samples over the weekends. Cases tend to go up again once the new week begins.

The test positivity rate, which has been remaining below 4% since the past one week or more, dipped below 3% for the first time on Monday to register 2.74%.

On Monday, the number of recoveries reported by the State was more than three times the number of new cases. With 3,463 recoveries being reported, the active case pool dipped again to reach 27,057 cases. The cumulative recoveries reported by the State ever since the pandemic began has risen to 10,60,560.

On Monday, the addition of 11 new deaths that took place in the past few days to the official list of COVID-19 fatalities in the State took its cumulative toll till date to 4,407 deaths.

Ernakulam and Kasaragod reported two deaths each while one death each was reported in Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur.

The number of critically ill COVID patients in the State who are currently being treated in ICUs in various hospitals in the State was 519 on Monday, according to official reports, with 145 of them requiring ventilator assistance.

Of the 1,054 new cases reported on Monday, 908 cases are believed to be locally acquired infections, through the contact with other infected persons. This includes infections reported in five healthcare workers.

In 33 cases, the Health Department has reported a history of travel to other States. No history of travel or contact with infected persons are reported or known in the case of 113 infections.

At present, a total of 1,43,461 persons are under observation in the State, of whom, all except 4,152 persons are in home isolation. The number of hospital admissions on Monday was 449.

Among districts, Thiruvananthapuram reported the maximum number of new cases with 130 cases, Malappuram 124, Ernakulam 119, Koozhikode 117, Kollam 116, Kannur 74, Alappuzha 70, Thrissur 70, Kottayam 68, Palakkad 50, Pathanamthitta 42, Kasaragod 29, Idukki 25, and Wayanad 20 cases.