Kerala reported 7,354 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, after testing 52,755 samples in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative case burden of the State to 1,87,276.
The test positivity rate remains at a record high of 13.9%. The number of recoveries reported on the day was 3,420.
With total recoveries reported till date being 1,24,688, the number of active patients in the State at present is 61,791. Of these, 389 are critically ill and being treated in ICUs and another 94 on ventilator support.
The State’s toll went up to 719, with the addition of 22 new deaths in the State’s official list of COVID deaths. Five of these deaths were reported in Kannur, four in Malappuram, three each in Thrissur, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram and two each in Kottayam and Palakkad.
97% local transmission
Of the new cases reported on Tuesday 97% – 7,166 out of the 7,354 – are locally acquired infections, with the source of infection remaining unknown in 672 of these cases. The number of health-care workers affected is 130, with 32 cases in Kannur, 30 in Thiruvananthapuram and 24 in Kasaragod and the rest scattered across districts.
Malappuram has the highest number of new cases reported on Tuesday, at 1,040, followed closely by Thiruvananthapuram with 935 cases. Ernakulam has 859, Kozhikode 837, Kollam 583, Alappuzha 524, Thrissur 484, Kasaragod 453, Kannur 432, Palakkad 374, Kottayam 336, Pathanamthitta 271, Wayanad 169, and Idukki 57.
The active cases in Thiruvananthapuram crossed the 10,000 mark to reach 10,405. Ernakulam has 7,084 active cases, Kozhikode 6,634, Kollam 5,307, and Malappuram 5,257. Except for Idukki and Wayanad, all other districts have active cases over 2,000.
