Kerala reported 6,316 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday after testing 56,993 samples. The test positivity rate rose to 11.08%.
The State’s official toll rose to 2,298 with another 28 deaths being added. Eight deaths were reported from Kozhikode, seven from Ernakulam, four from Thiruvananthapuram, three from Kottayam, two from Alappuzha and one each from Kollam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kannur.
Malappuram reported 822 cases, Kozhikode 734, Ernakulam 732, Thrissur 655, Kottayam 537, Thiruvananthapuram 523, Alappuzha 437, Palakkad 427, Kollam 366, Pathanamthitta 299, Wayanad 275, Kannur 201, Idukki 200 and Kasaragod 108 cases.
Karnataka on Wednesday reported 1,440 new cases and 16 deaths. As many as 983 persons were discharged on Wednesday, taking total recoveries to 8,51,690. Of the remaining 24,150 active patients, 318 were in ICUs.
While the positivity rate for the day stood at 1.35%, the Case Fatality Rate touched 1.11%. Bengaluru Urban reported 712 cases, taking its tally to 3,71,204. With 10 more deaths from Bengaluru, the toll rose to 4,156. Active cases in Bengaluru touched 18,394. In all, 1,05,918 tests were conducted in 24 hours, including 86,434 RT-PCR tests.
Andhra Pradesh reported 663 new infections and seven deaths on Wednesday. While the tally increased to 8,69,412, the toll touched 7,003.
The death rate of COVID-19 infections in the State was lowest at 0.81%. After the first thousand deaths were reported, the death rate was 1.08% and it gradually dropped.
While it took about 70 days for the deaths to increase from 1,000 to 6,000, the last thousand deaths were reported in the past 58 days.
Among the districts, the death rate was the highest at 1.39% in Krishna district, at 637 so far. Chittoor, which had a 0.99% death rate, saw the highest absolute number of deaths at 828.
Meanwhile, 1,115 patients recovered in the past day and the recovery rate was 98.40% for a total of 8,55,485 patients, leaving 6,924 active patients.
In the past day, 56,988 samples were tested with a positivity rate of 1.16% and overall positivity rate for 1.016 crore samples at 8.55%.
Krishna reported two new deaths while Guntur, Anantapur, Visakhapatnam, West Godavari and Nellore reported one new death each.
The district wise death toll and death rate were: Chittoor (828, 0.99%), Guntur (651, 0.89%), Krishna (639, 1.39%), East Godavari (66, 0.52%), Anantapur (591, 0.88%), Prakasam (577, 0.94%), Visakhapatnam (542, 0.93%), West Godavari (526, 0.57%), Nellore (496, 0.80%), Kurnool (486, 0.81%), Kadapa (450, 0.83%), Srikakulam (346, 0.76%) and Vizianagaram (235, 0.58%).
Krishna also reported the highest number of new infections at 117, followed by Chittoor (106), West Godavari (96), Guntur (86), East Godavari (60), Visakhapatnam (54), Anantapur (34), Nellore (34), Kadapa (29), Vizianagaram (17), Prakasam (15), Srikakulam (10) and Kurnool (5).
The district infection tallies were: East Godavari (1,22,421), West Godavari (92,615), Chittoor (83,875), Guntur (73,055), Anantapur (66,743), Prakasam (61,498), Nellore (61,497), Kurnool (60,250), Visakhapatnam (58,288), Kadapa (54,411), Krishna (45,675), Srikakulam (45,474) and Vizianagaram (40,715).
COVID-19 cases were said to be declining in Telangana. Only 565 of 51,562 samples tested returned positive on Tuesday.
The downward trajectory of cases was observed from November 20.
Health department officials said on Wednesday that there could be a fresh surge. Cold temperatures, and gatherings for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections and polling were possible causes.
New cases on Tuesday included 106 in GHMC, 43 in Rangareddy, and 42 in Medchal Malkajgiri. One patient died.
(With inputs from Bengaluru, Vijayawada and Hyderabad bureaus)
