Kerala sees over 30,000 Covid cases for third consecutive day; TPR at 19.2%

Kerala continued to report over 30,000 cases for the third consecutive day on Friday and showed an increased Test Positivity Rate, while 179 deaths took the the toll to 20,313.

The state logged 32,801 cases today, up from 30,007 on Thursday. The figure was 31,445 cases on August 25.

The number of samples tested in the last 24 hours increased to 1,70,703, health minister Veena George said, compared to 1,66,397 on Thursday.

The Test Positivity Rate stood at 19.22 per cent, an increase from 18.03 on August 26.

"Out of those found infected today, 144 reached the state from outside while 31,281 contracted the disease from their contacts. The sources of infection of 1,260 are yet to be traced. Among the infected are 116 health workers, " the minister said in a release.

Among the districts, Malappuram reported the highest number of cases (4,032), followed by Thrissur 3,953 and Ernakulam 3,627, Kozhikode 3,362 and Kollam 2,828.

Meanwhile 18,573 persons recuperated from the disease on Friday, taking the total cured in the state to 37,30,198. Currently, there are 1,95,254 persons under treatment in the state.

The health department said there are 353 wards across 70 local self government bodies where the weekly infection population ratio was above eight per cent.

The steady rise in cases had seen Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla review the situation with top officials on Thursday and the steps taken to contain the alarming graph of the virus in the state.

The central government had said that the southern state is the only one reporting over one lakh active COVID-19 cases, while four states have 10,000 to one lakh active cases and 31, less than 10,000 active cases.