A cluster of 53 new COVID-19 cases in a Kerala prison, and further rise of cases in the State with 1,608 more testing positive on Saturday, were among the highlights of the pandemic’s course in southern States. The cumulative Kerala case burden stood at 42,885.

The State also reported 803 recoveries, and 14,891patients were currently under treatment in hospitals. A total of 27,779 persons had recovered.

The Health department added seven more deaths to COVID-19 toll on Saturday, confirming three earlier deaths at Thiruvananthapuram, two at Ernakulam and one each at Kollam and Kasaragod to be caused by the virus. Total deaths stood at 146.

Of the new cases reported, nearly 90 % – 1,444 cases – were locally acquired infections, including 31 health care workers. In 112 cases, no epidemiological link was available.

Malappuram district overtook Thiruvananthapuram again with the maximum number of new cases in a day, at 362, of which 326 were locally acquired infections. Nineteen of 31 healthcare workers testing positive today were in Malappuram.

Thiruvananthapuram, reporting 300-500 cases daily for a month or more, reported 321 cases on Saturday.

The district cases were in Kozhikode (151), Alapuzha (118), Ernakulam (106), Kollam (91), Thrissur (85), Kasaragod (81), Palakkad (74), Kannur (52), Pathanamthitta (49), Wayanad (48), Kottayam (39) and Idukki (31). The State quarantined over 1.6 lakh people, of whom 13,358 with mild COVID-like symptoms were isolated in hospitals. The State tested 32,108 samples in 24 hours.

The number of areas in the State which have been designated as hot spots has gone up to 562.

COVID-19 cases emerged in large numbers in the Poojappura Central Prison in Thiruvananthapuram, where 53 more prisoners tested positive on Saturday; in five days, 217 inmates were diagnosed. Two assistant prison officers and a doctor working in the hospital on the jail premises tested positive.

The spread in the Central Prison was noticed after a 71-year old prisoner, with no recent parole history, incidentally tested positive after falling unconscious on August 11.

The capital district’s COVID-19 graph was climbing with 321 people testing positive.

Local transmission was linked to 313 people contracting the infection.

The COVID-19 death toll rose to 33 in Thiruvananthapuram with three more people - two women who hailed from Anjuthengu and Poonthura and a man who hailed from Chenkavila near Parassala - succumbed due to the disease recently.

Three employees of Milma were diagnosed with COVID-19 at its dairy plant in Ambalathara.

Karnataka on Saturday reported a total of 8,818 new positive cases, the highest number reported in a single day. Positive cases in the State stood at 2,19,926.

Of the new cases, 3,495 were from Bengaluru. Eight other districts saw more than 200 new positive cases.

The number of statewide deaths on Saturday stood at 114.

Of the total 81,276 active cases in the state, 716 patients were in intensive care. Also, 54,806 tests were conducted, 29,075 tests being RT PCR and other methods, and the rest rapid antigen tests.

The 87 new COVID-19 deaths and 8,732 new infections in Andhra Pradesh in 24 hours on Saturday raised the toll to 2,562 and the tally to 2,81,817, the Health department said.

The positivity rate for tests crossed 10% for the first time, to 10.02% of the total 28,12,197 tests conducted since the beginning of the pandemic. August positivity rate was at 16.37%.

The State’s overall positivity rate was higher than that of the country (8.84%). Tests of 52,663 samples were done per million people. In the past day, 53,712 samples were tested.

Active cases came down to 88,138 and the death rate stands at 0.91%.

East Godavari again reported over 1,000 cases, close to the 40,000-mark. The new cases and new deaths were: East Godavari (1,126 cases, 8 deaths), Chittoor (959, 10), Visakhpatnam (894, 6), Anantapur (851, 7), Kurnool (734, 7), Srikakulam (638, 5), West Godavari (612, 8), Guntur (609, 9), Nellore (572, 6), Vizianagaram (561,6), Prakasam (489, 5), Kadapa (389, 7) and Krishna (298, 3).

Telangana’s cases, with 1,863 more testing positive on Friday stood at 90,259 on August 14.

On Friday, 21,239 tests were performed and 1,863 cases detected, including 394 from Greater Hyderabad, 175 from Medchal Malkajgiri, 131 from Rangareddy, 104 from Karimnagar, and 101 from Warangal Urban. The toll rose to 684 as 10 more COVID-19 patients died.

Out of 90,259 cases till August 14, active cases totalled 23,379, 66,196 had recovered and 684 died. A total of 7,32,435 tests were performed. Cases in GHMC were lower than in other districts.

Of the total, 65.9 % of cases were among people from 21-50 years of age, 24.4 % above 50 years, and 3.4% below 10 years.

(With inputs from Karnataka, Vijayawada, Hyderabad,bureaus)