Kerala was set to create new records, as the second wave of COVID-19 swept the State. Results of the augmented mass testing drive were beginning to come in on Sunday, and the daily spike in new cases saw a dramatic increase. The State’s population was largely naive to the infection (the sero prevalence in January was 10.8%), leading to expectations that the second wave would be intense and prolonged.
On Sunday, results of 1,08,898 samples tested in a 24 hour period showed 18,257 persons were positive, the highest daily case figure so far. But the test positivity rate (TPR) remained a notch below Saturday’s 16.77%.
Samples from a total of 3,00,971 persons were collected during the augmented testing drive conducted on Friday and Saturday, results of which would be released in two or three days.
Ernakulam district had the maximum active cases with 14,472 patients, while Kozhikode had 13,389 patients.
The proportion of critically ill patients requiring ICU care reached the levels of the first peak. On Sunday, the State had 841 patients in ICUs, and those requiring ventilator assistance rose to 236.
Mortality was also on the rise, with 25 new deaths. Thrissur reported six deaths, Thiruvananthapuram five, Kozhikode and Kannur three each, Kollam, Kottayam and Malappuram two each, while one death each was reported from Alappuzha and Kasaragod.
Karnataka reported 19,067 new cases in a fresh high.
Of these, 12,793 were reported in Bengaluru Urban. The Health department put the TPR on Sunday at 13.09 %.
There were 81deaths reported on Sunday.
On Sunday, 63,150 people were vaccinated, taking the total vaccinated numbers in the State to 70.28 lakh.
Telangana also hit another peak with 5,093 cases detected on Saturday.
At 15 fatalities, the State recorded the highest number of deaths in a day on Saturday.
Of the 33 districts in the State, 17 recorded over 100 cases. The highest of 743 were from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation region followed by 488 in Medchal-Malkajgiri, and 407 in Rangareddy.
Andhra Pradesh reported 22 deaths, the highest daily toll since October 21 on Sunday morning and 6,582 new infections.
Only 35,922 samples were tested in the past day with a TPR of 18.32%.
Chittoor district reported five deaths, Krishna and Nellore four each, Kurnool three, Anantapur and Guntur two each and Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram one death each in the past day.
Chittoor also reported the highest single-day tally of 1,171 infections. Next to it was Srikakulam with 912 infections. It was followed by Guntur (804), Kurnool (729), Nellore (597), Visakhapatnam (551), Krishna (465), Vizianagaram (349), Prakasam (314), Anantapur (305), Kadapa (203), East Godavari (100) and West Godavari (82).
District-wise total cases are: East Godavari (1,29,312), Chittoor (1,00,254), West Godavari (95,139), Guntur (86,570), Anantapur (71,453), Visakhapatnam (67,935), Nellore (67,600), Kurnool (66,125), Prakasam (65,985), Kadapa (58,313), Krishna (55,131), Srikakulam (51,788) and Vizianagaram (43,537).
(With inputs from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijayawada bureaus)
