Kerala reported 6,186 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, when 66,259 samples were tested in 24 hours. Test positivity rate on the day was 9.34%.
The cumulative case burden of the State has risen to 8,57,380 cases. The active case pool has been steadily rising this past week and now stands at 70,259.
Kerala now tops all States across the country when it comes to new cases, active caseload, and the deaths reported daily. Except for Kerala and Maharashtra, with 51,000-odd active cases, all other States have brought down their active caseload to 7,000-8,000 cases, the Union Health Ministry pointed out on Tuesday. A total of 4,296 recovered.
26 deaths
The addition of 26 new deaths on Tuesday to the official list has taken the State’s COVID toll to 3,506.
Thrissur reported five deaths, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, and Kannur four each, Kozhikode three, Wayanad and Malappuram two each, while Ernakulam and Kasaragod reported one death each.
Of the 6,186 new cases reported on the day, the Health Department has reported a history of travel outside the State in 92 cases, while 6,094 are locally acquired infections. Amongst the locally acquired infections, in 484 cases the source of infection remains untraced while the number of health-care workers who acquired the infection is 6,943.
Ernakulam tops
Among districts, Ernakulam continues to report the highest number of cases in the State with 1,019 cases, Kottayam 674, Kollam 591, Thrissur 540, Pathanamthitta 512, Malappuram 509, Kozhikode 481, Alappuzha 475, Thiruvananthapuram 404, Kannur 301, Wayanad 245, Palakkad 242, Idukki 130, and Kasaragod 63 cases.
The number of critically ill patients being treated in ICUs in the State is 760 on Tuesday, according to official reports, with 224 of them requiring ventilator assistance.
UK variant
A total of 63 persons who came from the United Kingdom have so far tested positive, with seven testing positive in 24 hours.
Of these, the samples of nine have been found to have the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 variant first reported in the U.K., B.1.1.7, which is believed to be highly transmissible. More samples have been despatched to NIV, Pune, and results are awaited.
