The steady spread of COVID-19 continued in Kerala, with 8,135 new cases being added on Thursday, from 59,157 samples. The test positivity rate was also steady at 13.7%.
There were 72,339 patients under treatment in hospitals. Of these, 481 were in ICUs, with another 115 on ventilator support.
The State’s COVID-19 toll was 771, as 29 more deaths which occurred between September 1 and 30 were added to the official list on Thursday.
Thiruvananthapuram accounted for 10 deaths, Ernakulam seven, Thrissur six, Kasaragod three, Kollam two and Alapuzha one death.
Of Thursday’s new cases, 7,850 cases (96.4%) were locally acquired infections.
Thiruvananthapuram, which topped the tally for over two months, fell to the fourth place as the case graph rose in other districts.
On Thursday, Kozhikode reported the most cases at 1,072, Malappuram 968, Ernakulam 934, Thiruvananthapuram 856, Alapuzha 804, Kollam 633, Thrissur 613, Palakkad 513, Kasaragod 471, Kannur 435, Kottayam 340, Pathanamthitta 223, Wayanad 143 and Idukki 130 cases.
After a day’s gap, Karnataka again reported over 10,000 cases. Thursday saw 10,070 persons testing positive. There were 130 new deaths. Bengaluru Urban reported 4,853 cases and 41 of 130 deaths were from Bengaluru. There were 815 patients in ICUs.
The number of tests rose to a record 96,588 including 46,960 rapid antigen tests.
Andhra Pradesh added 6,751 new infections and 41 deaths on Thursday. It became the second State to see over seven lakh cases after Maharashtra. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with 6.01 lakh and 5.97 lakh infections followed, a State bulletin said.
It claimed to be the only State with over one lakh tests per million ratio.
After an increase by one lakh in intervals of 10 to 11 days, the seventh lakh was reported in 14 days.
The district-wise new cases and deaths were as follows: East Godavari (986 and 4), Chittoor (888 and 7), Prakasam (783 and 5), West Godavari (753 and 2), Guntur (594 and 3), Nellore (472 and 1), Krishna (424 and 6), Kadapa (400 and 3), Anantapur (333 and 4), Srikakulam (301 and 1), Visakhapatnam (277 and 5), Vizianagaram (275 and 0) and Kurnool (265 and 0).
Telangana recorded 2,214 new cases on Wednesday and eight more patients died. While 54,443 people underwent tests, results of 1,393 were awaited. New cases included 305 from Greater Hyderabad.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Bengaluru bureaus)