Kerala logs 55,475 fresh Covid-19 cases, highest ever reported

Kerala reported 55,475 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest ever reported from the state in a single day since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, taking the total affected to 57,25,086.

On Monday, Kerala recorded 26,514 fresh cases while the previous highest ever in a single day was recorded on January 20- 46,387 cases.

The state Health department said 1,12,281 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and the COVID-19 dashboard in the website of the Kerala government shows the test positivity rate above 44 per cent.

There are 4,42,466 people under observation in the state out of which 10,342 are in isolation wards of various hospitals, the Health department said in a release.

"Currently, there are 2,85,365 active COVID-19 cases in the state out of which only 3.8 per cent are hospitalised," the release said.

The State registered 154 COVID-19-related deaths on Tuesday taking the death toll to 52,141.

Among the latest fatalities, 70 were recorded over the last few days while 84 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.

Among the districts, Ernakulam reported the highest number of cases on Tuesday--9,405, followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 8,606 and Thrissur with 5,520 cases.

"Out of those who were found infected today, 139 reached the state from outside while 51,547 contracted the disease from their contacts. The sources of infection of 3,373 patients are yet to be ascertained. 506 health workers are also among the infected," the release said.

Meanwhile, 30,226 people recovered from the disease on Tuesday taking the total recoveries in the state to 53,86,868.