Kerala’s daily tally of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) remained below the 30,000-mark for a second consecutive day as 29,682 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 4,181,137, according to the health department’s bulletin.
Nearly 26,000 were discharged while 142 succumbed to the viral disease in the same period. With this, the cumulative count of recoveries and deaths has climbed to 3,909,096 and 21,422 respectively. The active cases in the state stand at 250,065.
On Friday, Kerala reported 29,322 new cases, 131 deaths and 22,938 recoveries.
On Saturday, Thrissur reported the most number of cases at 3,474, followed by 3,456 cases in Ernakulam, 3,166 in Malappuram and 2,950 in Kozhikode, the bulletin added. More than 169,000 samples were tested for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours and the cumulative figures have gone up to 32,234,770 and the test positivity rate is at 17.54 per cent.
The fresh cases in Kerala include 132 health workers, 185 people from outside the state and 28,008 people who were infected through contact. The source of infection of 1,357 people was yet to be traced. The bulletin also stated that 603,968 people are under observation across the state of which 33,411 are in isolation wards of hospitals and the remaining 570,557 are in home or institutional quarantine.
On Friday, the chief minister ruled out the possibility of a complete lockdown despite the worsening pandemic situation by saying it would bring a huge crisis for Kerala’s economy and livelihood. “Expert opinion is that we need to build social immunity and move back to normal. Caution should not be compromised at all,” Vijayan told local body officials and said that neighbourhood monitoring committees would be set up under which Covid-19 restrictions will be imposed.
