COVID-19 tests over the weekend dipped to 34,821 in Kerala, and new cases reported on Monday stood at 1,239. The test positivity rate was steady at 3.56%, as in the past few days. Karnataka added 1,445 new cases, Andhra Pradesh reported 310, and in Telangana, despite a dip in testing there were 337 fresh cases, in a continuing trend.
On Monday, the addition of 12 deaths in Kerala which took place in the past few days raised the State’s cumulative COVID-19 toll to 4,507.
Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha and Ernakaulam reported two deaths each, while one death each was reported in Kollam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod. There were 442 critically ill patients being treated in ICUs in the State on Monday, official reports said, 130 of them requiring ventilator support.
Of the 1,239 new cases, 1,073 were believed to be locally acquired infections. This included infections in six healthcare workers.
Thiruvananthapuram district reported 175 new cases, Kannur 125, Kozhikode 114, Kollam 112, Ernakulam 106, Alappuzha 103, Idukki 91, Thrissur 89, Malappuram 81, Kottayam 70, Palakkad 59, Pathanamthitta 46, Kasaragod 44 and Wayanad 24 cases.
In Karnataka, 1,445 new cases were detected on Monday, taking the total in the State to 9.71 lakh. Of the new cases, 886 were in Bengaluru Urban. COVID-19 deaths on Monday stood at 10, raising the State toll to 12,444. Of the 10 new deaths, four were from Bengaluru Urban.
Of 14,267 active cases, 136 were in ICUs in designated hospitals. The positivity rate for the day stood at 1.84%. Sunday’s tests stood at 78,178, and 74,665 were of RT-PCR type.
On Monday evening, 99,361 people had been vaccinated in all, including first and second doses of health care workers, frontline workers and first doses of people above 60 years and those between ages 45 and 60 with comorbidities.
Andhra Pradesh reported 310 new infections and two deaths on Monday, while active cases were 2,382. The positivity rate for 35,375 samples tested was 0.88%.
Fresh deaths occurred in Krishna and Kurnool districts. Chittoor again reported the highest daily cases at 51, East Godavari (43) and Visakhapatnam (43).
Guntur witnessed the highest surge over the past week at 369 new infections, Chittoor reported 335, Visakhapatnam 227, Krishna reported 210 and Kurnool reported 200 cases.
Cases in Telangana on Sunday dropped from the previous day’s numbers, but crossed the 300-mark again. From March 15, while over 60,000 samples were tested daily, on Sunday it was 37,079 — down almost 40%. But cases remained high at 337. On Saturday, 394 cases were recorded. Infections in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits rose — from 37 on March 15 to 91 on Sunday.
With two fresh COVID-related deaths, the toll touched 1,671.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram bureaus)
