It seemed to be a day when Kerala hit many new highs as far as COVID-19 is concerned.
The State reported the highest single-day spike on Wednesday, when 43,529 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, after testing 1,46,320 samples.
Test positivity rate touched an all-time high of 29.75% on the day.
Public health experts are hoping that the State will see the peak by May 15 and that in the subsequent plateauing, daily case numbers will stabilise around 30,000 to 35,000 cases. However, the plateau could be prolonged, unless disease transmission can be brought down through an extended lockdown.
95 deaths
On Wednesday, the State also added a record 95 deaths to the official list of toll, taking the cumulative fatalities in the State to 6,053.
These are deaths which occurred over the past few days, mostly between May 3 and May 10 across districts.
Even though the State claims that the increase in deaths is only in proportion to the increase in cases, the absolute number of deaths have been quite high.
Kozhikode reported 24 of these deaths, Thrissur 20, Ernakulam 17, Thiruvananthapuram 14, Kottayam 11, Malappuram five while Alappuzha reported four deaths.
Active pool rising
The State’s active case pool continues to rise and had 4,32,789 patients on Wednesday.
Hospitalisations and ICU admissions continue to rise in Kerala and it certainly looks as though even the increased surge capacity of the health system will not be sufficient to accommodate the burgeoning number of those requiring critical care.
The number of COVID-19 patients currently being treated in hospitals in the State has risen to 34,436 with 3,593 persons being newly admitted to various hospitals in the State on Thursday
Another 42 persons with critical illness were shifted to the ICUs on Wednesday. A total of 2,729 persons are now int ICUs across the State. A total of 1,446 COVID-19 patients are on ventilator support in the State now.
34,600 recoveries
The State reported 34,600 recoveries on the day. At present, a total of 9,67,211 persons have been put on home or institutional isolation in the State.
The cumulative case burden of the State now stands at 20,10,934 cases.
Ernakulam continues to have the highest number of active cases with 67,180. However, Thiruvananthapuram, with 41,644 active cases, has the highest number of hospitalisations at 5,064.
Among districts, Ernakulam reported the highest number of new cases with 6,410, Malappuiram 5,388, Kozhikode 4,418, Thiruvananthapuram 4,284, Thrissur 3,994, Palakkad 3,520, Kollam 3,350, Kottayam 2,904, Alappuzha 2,601, Kannur 2,346, Pathanamthitta 1,339, Idukki 1,305, Kasaragod 969 and Wayanad 701 cases.
