Kerala’s COVID-19 case graph registered a real dip in new COVID cases on Tuesday, registering 31,337 cases, when 1,34,553 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.
The test positivity rate also went below 25% for the first time in weeks to touch 23.29%
The case graph has been showing a tendency to dip and stabilise, ever since it registered the highest single day spike on May 12, when 43,529 new cases were reported.
Going by the case numbers and feedback from the field, it does look as though the case graph is stabilising and beginning to plateau in the State. However, the impact of COVID -19 pandemic on the State would not ease, unless hospitalisations and ICU occupancy goes down and the pressure on the health system eases.
Even when the new case numbers went down and the active case pool dipped significantly, the number of COVID patients getting admitted to hospitals daily in the State has been increasing. On Tuesday, the new COVID-19 admissions in hospitals touched an all-time high of 5,225.
If the number of COVID patients being treated in various hospitals in the State was 37,715 on Monday, it went up to 37,974 on Tuesday. ICU admissions also went up slightly and on Tuesday, the number of critically ill patients being treated in COVID ICUs in both public and private hospitals in the State was 3,862, with 1,474 requiring ventilator support.
The State’s active caseload, which dropped from from 4.4 lakh cases to 3,62,315 on Monday due to a record number of recoveries, went down further to 3,47,626, with 45,926 people declared to have recovered from the disease.
The total number of recoveries till date is 18,46,105
At present, a total of 9,73,021 people have been put on home or institutional isolation in the State.
On Tuesday, the State added 97 new deaths to the official list of COVID deaths, taking the cumulative COVID fatalities in the State ever since the pandemic began to 6,612. These are not deaths reported in the past 24 hours but which occurred over the past few days.
Thiruvananthapuram reported 25 of these deaths, Thrissur 19, Ernakulam 16, Kozhikode 15, Patyhanamthitta 11, Malappuram six, Kottayam two while one death each was reported from Wayanad, Idukki and Alappuzha.
The cumulative case burden of the State ever since the pandemic began, now stands at 22,00,706 cases.
The active case pool has dipped drastically in many districts which used to have over 40-60,000 cases . The active case pool in Ernakulam which had 68,352 patients on Sunday, has dropped to 52,899 patients . The active caseload in Thiruvananthapuram also dipped significantly from 45,093 on Sunday to 26,739 cases on Tuesday.
However, even with this drastic dip in active cases, the number of hospitalised patients has been going up in Thiruvananthapuram, with 5,792 patients currently admitted in various hospitals. Ernakulam has 4,897 patients in hospitals. Over six districts currently have between 2,500-5,800 patients in hospitals and it is this number which has to go down significantly before Kerala can breathe easy.
Among districts, Malappuram reported the highest number of new cases with 4,320, Ernakulam 3,517, Thiruvananthapuram 3,355, Kollam 3,323 Palakkad 3,105, Kozhikode 2,474, Alappuzha 2,353, Thrissur 2,312, Kottayam 1,855, Kannur 1,374, Pathanamthitta 1,149, Idukki 830, Kasaragod 739 and Wayanad 631.
