An increase in COVID-19 testing in Kerala, post Onam festivities, has resulted in a huge jump in new cases in the State, setting the test positivity rate (TPR) soaring.
Kerala reported 24,296 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, a significantly higher number than that of the previous days, when 1,34,706 samples were tested over the past 24 hours. Despite the increase in testing, TPR is soaring, registering 18.04% on Tuesday.
Bracing for surge
The Health Department appears to be resigned to the fact that a major surge in cases is inevitable in the State after the Onam festivities and is now bracing to see how high the graph will rise.
The State’s active case pool on Tuesday had 1,59,335 patients, with a good number of recoveries reported in the past two days. The number of patients reported to have recovered on the day was 19,349.
There is also no let-up in deaths due to COVID-19, even when the State continues to report a cumulative case fatality rate of 0.5%. The official cumulative case fatalities in the State now stands at 19,757, with Kerala adding 173 deaths, most of which occurred in the past few days, to the official list of COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday.
However, ICU occupancy and hospitalisations have not seen a major fluctuation since the past two weeks despite the surge in new cases.
ICU occupancy of COVID patients in both public and private hospitals in the State is stable at 2,057, while the number of patients requiring ventilator support has dipped to 761.
On Tuesday, the number of patients in the State newly admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 was 2,078. Much to the relief of the Health Department, total hospitalisations of those with moderate or severe COVID-19 does not show a significant increase and stood at 26,039, despite the increase in active cases.
Case burden
The cumulative case burden of the State ever since the pandemic began now stands at 38,51,984 cases.
Among the districts, Ernakulam reported the highest number of new cases with 3,149 cases, Thrissur 3,046, Kozhikode 2,875, Malappuram 2,778, Palakkad 2,212, Kollam 1,762, Kottayam 1,474, Thiruvananthapuram 1,435, Kannur 1,418, Alappuzha 1,107, Pathanamthitta 1,031, Wayanad 879, Idukki 612 and Kasaragod 518 cases.
