Kerala’s COVID-19 case graph recorded another jump in cases on Wednesday with 34,199 persons testing positive for COVID-19, when 91,983 samples were tested in 24 hours.
The relentless climb of the case graph in the State is typical of the surge in the case graphs witnessed in Europe and the U.K,, when Omicron variant was in wide circulation.
The State’s active case pool, which had fewer than 20,000 patients in the beginning of the year, now has 1,68,383 patients, of whom, 3.2% are currently admitted in hospitals or field hospitals like COVID first line/second line treatment centres.
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The Health department’s data says that during January 12-18, the average active cases were 93,466, out of which an average of around 0.7 % were admitted in oxygen beds and 0.6% in ICUs. New cases increased by 211% (88,062 cases) , while active cases increased by 192% during this period, in comparison to the previous week. Hospitalisations increased by 60% and ICU occupancy by 38%.
8,193 recoveries
The number of recoveries has gone up and a total of 8,193 persons were reported to have recovered from the disease on Wednesday.
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Even when Omicron is said to cause fewer hospitalisations, the number of patients getting admitted in hospitals every day has been rising exponentially this past one week. On Wednesday, the number of patients who newly entered the hospitals rose to 1,094. Total number of patients admitted with COVID in hospitals has risen to 6,203.
Current ICU occupancy of COVID patients in both public and private hospitals has been rising steadily every day. On Wednesday, it jumped from 722 to 794. The number of patients requiring ventilator support has also been rising and stands at 175.
The official cumulative COVID-19 case fatality in the State now stands at 51,160, with the State adding 134 deaths to the official list of COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. This includes 49 recent deaths and 85 deaths which have now been accepted as COVID deaths by the government as per the new guidelines of the Centre and following the appeals filed by families
The State’s cumulative COVID-19 burden, ever since the pandemic began, now stands at 54,64,457 cases.
Highest in Ernakulam
Among districts, Ernakulam reported the highest number of new cases with 5,953 cases, Thiruvananthapuram 5,684, Thrissur 3,604, Kozhikode 3,386, Kottayam 2,333, Pathanamthitta 1,944, Palakkad 1,920, Kannur 1,814, Kollam 1,742, Malappuram 1,579, Idukki 1,435, Alappuzha 1,339, Wayanad 798, and Kasaragod 668 cases.