Daily new cases of COVID-19 crossed the 40,000 mark on Wednesday to record 41,953 cases when 1,63,321 samples were tested in the past 24 hours. This is also the highest number of tests done by the State till date.
The increase in test numbers brought the average test positivity rate slightly down to 25.69%. The peak of the second wave is still at least two weeks away and the disease transmission is likely to remain high.
The active case pool of the State has grown to include 3,75,658 patients.
A record number of 58 deaths were added to the official COVID toll, taking the cumulative toll to 5,565.
This included 18 deaths reported from Thiruvananthapuram (between May 2-3), 14 from Thrissur, 11 from Kollam, six from from Kozhikode, four from Kannur, three from Malappuram, while one death each was reported from Wayanad and Ernakulam.
The number of COVID patients being treated in hospitals has risen to 28,740, with 3,868 patients getting newly admitted on Wednesday.
The number of critically ill persons being treated in ICUs stands at 2,033. Of these, 818 are on ventilator support.
At present, a total of 7,55,453 persons have been put on home or institutional isolation in the State.
On Wednesday, 23,106 patients were declared to have recovered from COVID and let off from hospitals/institutions. The total recoveries till date is 13,62,363.
The cumulative case burden of the State ever since the pandemic began, now stands at 17,43,932 cases.
Ernakulam continues to have the highest number of active cases with 58,378 patients, followed by Kozhikode (50,865), Malappuram (43,045), Thrissur (42,187), and Thiruvananthapuram (31,179).
Thiruvananthapuram has the highest number of hospitalised patients at 4,177, while Ernakulam, even with a much higher active case pool, has less hospitalisations at 3,988. Except for Kollam, all other districts have over 10,000 active cases.
Among districts, Ernakulam went to another new high as far as new cases are concerned, reporting 6,558 cases, Kozhikode 5,180, Malappuram 4,166, Thrissur 3,731, Thiruvananthapuram 3,727, Kottayam 3,432, Alappuzha 2,951, Kollam 2,946, Palakkad 2,551, Kannur 2,087, Idukki 1,396, Pathanamthitta 1,282, Kasaragod 1,056, and Wayanad 890 cases.
