Kerala reported 5,490 new cases of COVID-19 on January 14, after 67,712 samples were tested in the past 24 hours. The test positivity rate remained at 8.11%.
While the cumulative case burden of the State rose to 8,31,259 cases, the active case pool of the State has 66,503 patients. On Jan. 13, 4,337 persons were reported to have recovered from their disease. The cumulative recoveries till date in the State has risen to 7,61,154.
U.K. Variant
Meanwhile, three more persons who travelled to the State from U.K. and who tested positive for COVID-19 have been found to be infected with the virus variant B.1.1.7, first reported in the U.K.
The virus variant, which is believed to be more transmissible than the originally circulating strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus, has now been identified in a total of nine persons in the State, all of whom had returned from the U.K. Of the three new cases identified on January 14, two were reported from Kannur district while the remaining one was reported from Pathanamthitta.
So far a total of 56 persons who reached the State from the U.K. have been found to be positive for COVID-19. Health officials said that more results were awaited from NIV, Pune, where the samples have been sent for genomic analysis.
The addition of 19 new deaths which occurred in the State in the past few days to the list of COVID-19 fatalities in the State has taken the State’s COVID-19 toll till date to 3,392 deaths.
Alappuzha reported four deaths, Thiruvananthapuram three, Malappuram two, while one death each was reported from Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki, Kozhikode, Kannur, Ernakulam and Palakkad.
The number of critically-ill COVID-19 patients in the State who are currently being treated in ICUs in various hospitals in the State is 778, according to official reports, with 227 of them requiring ventilator assistance.
Of the 5,490 new cases reported on the day, in 92 cases, the Health department has reported a history of travel outside the State while 5,398 are locally acquired infections. Amongst the locally acquired infections, in 435 cases the source of infection remains untraced, while the number of healthcare workers who acquired the infection is 52.
Among districts, Malappuram reported the highest number of cases with 712 cases, Ernakulam, 659, Kozhikode 582, Pathanamthitta 579, Kollam 463, Kottayam 459, Thrissur 446, Alappuzha 347, Thiruvananthapuram 295, Kannur 235, Wayanad 229, Palakkad 210, Iddukki 202 and Kasaragod 72 cases.
