2,884 new cases in State

Test positivity rate at 7.31%

The dip in testing over the weekend by nearly half the number of tests done normally on week days, reflected in the COVID case figures of the State on Monday.

Kerala reported 2,884 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday when testing done over the past 24 hours fell to 39,463 samples. However, the test positivity rate remained more or less constant at 7.31%. The State’s cumulative case burden, which crossed the 10 lakh mark on Sunday rose to 10,07,019 cases.

Of the 39,463 tests done by the State, 23,686 were rapid antigen assay while the RT-PCR tests dropped to 13,400. Other molecular diagnostic tests like Truenat, CBNAAT, constituted the remaining tests.

With the State reporting 5,073 recoveries on Monday, the active case pool of the State, which has been dropping steadily, now has 61,281 persons.

The cumulative recoveries reported in Kerala till date has risen to 9,41,471.

On Monday,13 more deaths were added to the official list of COVID fatalities, taking the State’s COVID toll ever since the pandemic began to 3,998 deaths.

Thrissur and Kollam reported three deaths each, Kannur two, while Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Wayanad reported one death each.

As on Monday, official reports said that the number of critically ill COVID patients being treated in ICUs in various hospitals across the State was 804 with 232 of them requiring ventilator support

Among districts, Malappuram reported the maximum number of new cases with 560 cases, Ernakulam 393, Kozhikode 292, Kottayam 289, Alappuzha 254, Thiruvananthapuram 248, Kollam 192, Thrissur 173, Kannur 135, Pathanamthitta 107, Palakkad 83, Wayanad 70, Idukki 44,and Kasaragod 44 cases

With two more travellers from UK testing positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, a total of 84 people who reached the State from UK since mid-December have tested positive for COVID-19. Official reports said that 70 of them have since tested negative.

So far, only 10 persons had tested positive for the virus variant B.1.1.7 first reported in UK and said to be highly transmissible.

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