Test positivity rates posts a dip in Kerala

Kerala’s cumulative case burden of COVID-19 rose to 7,95,933 cases, with the State reporting 5,051 new cases on Thursday, when 60,613 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.

The test positivity rate, which had crossed 10% on the previous day, dipped marginally to 8.83% on Thursday. The State’s active case pool, which had gone past 65,000 cases on Wednesday, dipped to 64,445 cases on Thursday, with the State reporting 5,638 recoveries. The cumulative recoveries reported by the State since the pandemic began rose to 7,28,060 cases.

The addition of 25 new deaths, which happened in the past few days, to the official list of COVID-19 fatalities in the State on Thursday has taken the State’s cumulative toll to 3,234 deaths.

Thiruvananthapuram accounted for seven of the new deaths, Kannur four, Kollam and Ernakulam three each, Alappuzha, Malappuram and Thrissur two each, while Pathanamthitta and Kozhikode reported one death each.

Among districts, Ernakulam reported the maximum number of new cases at 663, Kottayam 515, Pathanamthitta 514, Kozhikode 480, Malappuram 435, Alappuzha 432, Thrissur 432, Kollam 293, Thiruvananthapuram 284, Idukki 283, Wayanad 244, Palakkad 239, Kannur 151, and Kasaragod 86 cases.

4 from U.K. positive

Four more persons who arrived in the State between December 9-23 from the U.K., have tested positive for COVID-19 .

With this a total of 47 persons who arrived from U.K. during the specified period have tested positive for COVID-19.

However, of the samples sent to NIV, Pune, for genomic analysis so far, the presence of the U.K. virus variant has been reported only in six samples till date.