After registering over 1,000 COVID-19 cases for two consecutive days, the State breathed a sigh of relief on Friday when the daily case tally showed a slight dip, registering only 885 cases.
The relief is the recovery rate which exceeds the new case rate. On Friday, the number of recoveries was 968.
However, local transmission continues unabated, with 753 out of the 885 new cases being locally acquired infections and 56 of which have no epidemiological link. On Friday, 24 health-care workers tested positive.
Four deaths
Four more deaths were reported, two from Kasaragod and one each from Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha, taking the toll to 54. The total case burden now is 16,995, of which the active cases or the patients currently in hospitals number 9,371.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that despite the slight decline in cases, the epidemic situation merited serious concern. The spread of COVID-19 in several care homes and convents in Ernakulam district is an emerging issue which required serious attention.
A flare up in transmission can result in a huge number of deaths amongst the elderly and infirm in care homes, as it happened in the U.K. where over 16,000 deaths occurred in care homes in a matter of days. Tests done in a care home at Thrikkakara found 40 positive cases amongst the 135 occupants.
Mr. Vijayan said that no visitors would be allowed to care homes and that trips outside by care home officials would have to be restricted.
The government has decided to convert some of these care homes as COVID first-line treatment centres with medical care round the clock so that the inmates would not have to be taken outside for care.
Situation in Thiruvananthapuram
The capital district of Thiruvananthapuram, where 161 out of the 167 cases reported on Friday were through local transmission, continues to be a hot bed of disease transmission. Five major clusters in the coastal area here continue to have intense disease transmission and dangerously spreading to more coastal hamlets.
Mr. Vijayan said the test positivity rate at Pulluvila cluster was 42.92, with 288 out of the 671 tests turning out to be positive for COVID-19.
Over 2,000 discharged in Karnataka
Karnataka on Friday reported 5,007 new COVID-19 cases and 110 deaths, raising the case total to 85,870 and the death toll to 1,724.
With 2,037 more people discharged, total recoveries stood at 31,347. Of the remaining 52,791 active cases, 611 were in ICUs while others were stable. Tests done over 24 hours touched 29,819, including 7,411 Rapid Antigen Tests.
Bengaluru Urban recorded nearly half of total new cases statewide, at 2,267, and 50 deaths.
RT-PCR test charges
The State government on Friday capped the price for RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests in private labs.
An Order said the rate of RT-PCR testing for samples sent by government to private labs had been reduced from ₹2,250 to ₹2,000, and the ceiling rate for private samples in private labs from ₹4,500 to ₹3,000. The price included screening and confirmatory tests and cost of PPE. Rapid Antigen Tests for private samples in private labs were capped at ₹700 per sample inclusive of PPE.
Andhra Pradesh reported 8,147 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day spike thus far, raising the tally to 80,858. Forty-nine persons died and the death toll mounted to 933.
With the discharge of 2,380 patients, recoveries went up to 39,935 and patients in various hospitals were put at 39,990. Also, 48,114 samples were tested in a day.
The new deaths were reported in 10 districts, including East Godavari with 11 deaths, the highest. Krishna reported nine deaths and Kurnool eight, Srikakulam seven and West Godavari five deaths. Guntur and Visakhapatnam had three deaths each and Chittoor, Vizianagaram and Prakasam one death each. East Godavari reported the highest case number at 1,029, followed by Anantapur (984), Kurnool (914), and Visakhapatnam (898).
6,785 persons test positive for COVID-19 in T.N.
For the second consecutive day, Tamil Nadu reported more than 6,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. Another 6,785 persons tested positive and 88 persons died, and the State’s overall tally was closer to the two lakh-mark. The State’s recovery rate stood at 71% and mortality rate was 1.66%.
Of the total tally of 1,99,749 cases, 53,132 were under treatment. A total of 6,504 persons were discharged on Friday, taking the total number of persons discharged to 1,43,297. The State’s toll rose to 3,320.
Apart from Chennai, 18 districts accounted for over 100 new COVID-19 cases each. Chennai led the table with 1,299 cases, while Virudhunagar recorded 423. Chengalpattu witnessed a surge as 419 persons tested positive.
Among the other northern districts, Tiruvallur recorded 378 cases, Kancheepuram 349 cases, Ranipet 222 cases, Kallakurichi 179 cases, Vellore 174 cases, Villupuram 164 cases and Tiruvannamalai 134 cases.
In the south, Madurai recorded 326 fresh cases, while the surge continued in Thoothukudi with 308 persons testing positive. Kanyakumari had 266 cases, while Theni and Tirunelveli had 234 and 170 cases respectively. Among other districts, a total of 217 persons tested positive in Tiruchi, while 189 tested positive in Coimbatore. Thanjavur had 186 cases and Salem 121 cases. A total of 56 returnees tested positive across the State.
With this, Chennai’s overall tally stood at 92,206, while Chengalpattu accounted for 11,308 cases and Tiruvallur 11,008 cases.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai bureaus)
