Kerala’s COVID-19 case graph pointed north on Sunday, with 7,445 new cases. The State tested 54,493 samples. The test positivity rate jumped from 11.9% to 13.6%.
The number of critically ill patients in ICUs was 380, with 92 of them on ventilator support.
The Health department added 21 more deaths. Thiruvananthapuram accounted for six deaths, Kozhikode four, two each from Kannur, Palakkad, Ernakulam and one each from Kollam, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur and Kasaragod.
On Sunday, 95% new cases were locally acquired infections, with the source unknown in 561 cases. This included infections among 97 healthcare workers, 19 of them in Thiruvananthapuram and 17 in Kannur.
Cases in north Kerala surged and Thiruvananthapuram fell to fourth place in daily case burden. Kozhikode recorded the highest number at 956 cases, Ernakulam 924, Malappuram 915, Thiruvananthapuram 853, Kollam 690, Thrissur 573, Palakkad 488, Alapuzha 476, Kottayam 426, Kannur 332, Pathanamthitta 263, Kasaragod 252, Wayanad 172 and Idukki 125 cases.
Active cases in all districts have gone up, with Thiruvananthapuram inching closer to the 10,000 mark. The district has the highest number of active cases at 9,928, followed by Ernakulam with 6,107 cases, Kozhikode 5,968 cases, Kollam 4,825, Malappuram 4,760. Excepting Wayanad and Idukki, all other districts have over 2,000 active cases.
In Karnataka, cases in Bengaluru urban district surged, at 4,217 on Sunday.
The government attributed the spike to higher testing.
There were 9,543 new cases in the State on Sunday. A total of 79 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported. Also, 835 patients were admitted in intensive care units.
Sunday’s testing covered 67,857 samples, 26,049 of them rapid antigen tests.
Andhra Pradesh reported 6,923 new infections. The death toll rose by 45 on Sunday. Also, 76,416 samples were tested and 9.06% returned positive. The positivity rate of 56 lakh tests conducted so far was 12.07%.
Although less than 7,000 new infections were reported, East Godavari witnessed over a 1,000, West Godavari had close to 1,000 cases.
The new cases and fatalities in various districts were: East Godavari (1,006 & 4), West Godavari (929 & 4), Prakasam (659 & 8), Chittoor (577 & 2), Guntur (535 & 5), Nellore (506 & 3), Srikakulam (503), Anantapur (480 & 3), Kadapa (472 & 3), Vizianagaram (376 & 1), Krishna (333 & 6), Visakhapatnam (318 & 3) and Kurnool (229 & 3).
The overall district-wise tallies are as follows: East Godavari (94,190),West Godavari (64,433), Chittoor (59,820), Anantapur (56,209), Kurnool (55,685), Guntur (53,244), Nellore (50,999), Visakhapatnam (49,357), Prakasam (46,722), Kadapa (42,861), Srikakulam (38,593), Vizianagaram (34,179) and Krishna (26,487).
Telangana reported 1,967 cases on Saturday and conducted around 50,000 tests. This included 297 cases from Greater Hyderabad, 152 from Karimnagar, 147 from Rangareddy, 137 from Medchal Malkajgiri, 105 from Nalgonda, and 89 from Warangal Urban. Nine more COVID-19 patients died. Testing was around 53,000 to 59,000 samples between September 21 and 25.
A total of 28,50,869 samples have been tested in the State since March 2, when the first COVID case was reported here. Of those, 1,85,833 were found to be positive. While 1,54,499 patients have recovered, there are 30,234 active cases.
While data on ICU beds with and without ventilator support in the State government hospitals was mentioned in the media bulletin issued on September 23 and 24, senior officials from the Health department did not mention the data thereafter. As per the details provided, 4,424 oxygen beds and 862 ICU beds were available in the 62 government hospitals on Saturday while 2,416 oxygen beds and 1,039 ICU beds were vacant in the 225 private hospitals.
T.N. records over 5,700 cases
Tamil Nadu recorded 5,791 fresh cases on Sunday and the tally of those testing positive till date rose to 5,80,808. On the same day 5,706 persons were discharged from various health facilities and care centres after treatment.
As on date the number of those discharged after treatment is 5,25,154. A total of 46,341 persons were undergoing treatment, either in the hospital or in their respective homes.
Chennai recorded 1,280 new cases, crossing the 1000 mark for the fourth day, and 936 persons were discharged on the same day. The total number of active cases in the district stood at 10,656. In the last 24 hours the district also recorded 19 deaths.
The western districts witnessed a further rise in cases. In Coimbatore 596 new cases were recorded; in Salem, another 378 infection were identified, taking the total to 2,807 active cases. The district also recorded six deaths in a day. Tiruppur with 282 new cases also witnessed eight deaths in a day.
The burden of the disease continues to be high in the neighbouring districts of Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram. Chengalpattu recorded 296 fresh cases and two deaths; another 202 persons were diagnosed as positive for the infection in Tiruvallur, which recorded two deaths as well. In Kancheepuram, 196 more persons tested positive and two persons died of the infection.
Cuddalore recorded 256 new infections and five persons died since Saturday, according to the bulletin of the Directorate of Public Health.
The State recorded 80 deaths in a day as having occurred due to the infection, taking the total number of people who have died so far to 9,313.
Among those whose deaths were recorded as due to the infection, health officials said three persons had no co-morbid conditions. The three deaths had occurred in government health facilities.
Of the 77 deaths among those with associated chronic conditions registered in the last 24 hours, as many as 27 had occurred in private hospitals.
A 30-year-old woman from Karur who was admitted on Sept 21in the government medical college hospital there had tested positive for the infection the next day. She died on Saturday evening and her death was recorded as due to acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute respiratory failure and COVID pneumonia.
A 78-year-old woman from Chennai whose RT-PCR test revealed that she had COVID-19 was admitted on Sept 11 to a private hospital in the city. She was diabetic and hypertensive and had been admitted with complaints of fever for seven days, cough for three days and difficulty in breathing for four days. She died on Saturday morning due to COVID-19 pneumonia.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Bengaluru bureaus)