Kerala records 19,688 fresh coronavirus cases, 135 more deaths

Kerala on Monday reported 19,688 fresh COVID-19 cases and 135 deaths pushing the total infection count to 42,27,526 and the fatalities till date to 21,631, the state government said.

The test positivity rate (TPR) was found to be 16.71 per cent after testing 1,17,823 samples in the last 24 hours, according to a state government release. With this, 3,25,08,136 samples have been tested till now, it said. The bulletin also said that since Sunday, 28,561 people have recovered from the infection taking the total recoveries to 39,66,557 and the number of active cases to 2,38,782. Among the 14 districts of the state, Thrissur recorded the highest with 3,120 cases followed by Kozhikode (2,205), Ernakulam (2,029), Malappuram (1,695), Kollam (1,624), Palakkad (1,569), Thiruvananthapuram (1,483), Alappuzha (1,444), Kannur (1,262) and Kottayam (1,020), the release said. Of the new cases, 81 were health workers, 111 from outside the state and 18,602 infected through contact with the source of the contact not being clear in 894 cases. There are currently 6,20,739 people under surveillance in various districts. Of these, 5,87,582 are in home or institutional quarantine and 33,157 in hospitals. The state government also said that 75 per cent of the total population eligible for vaccination have been given one dose of vaccine by September 5 and 28 per cent of the eligible populace have been given both doses by the same date. More than 92 per cent of the people over the age of 45 years have received one dose and 48 per cent of the same age group have received both jabs till date, the release said. It further said that only 12.82 per cent of the cases currently under treatment are admitted in hospitals or field hospitals and less than 1 per cent of those under treatment are in the ICU. The state government said that those who are COVID positive and also suffer from comorbidities should avoid staying at home.