Kerala reported 9,016 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday from 52,067 samples.
The test positivity rate stood at 17.31%, higher than the 14.05% of the previous day. After testing 73,816 samples on October 7, the highest number, subsequent days showed testing drop to 38,259 samples on October 12. Samples tested in a daybarely went above 50,000, since then. The sudden drop in testing has been attributed to technical glitches in the new Lab Diagnosis and Management System.
The total samples tested in a day, as given out by the Health department, does not specify daily tests carried out daily to detect new cases. Since the total samples includes repeat samples and antigen tests done prior to discharging patients (on average, 7,500-8,000 a day), actual samples tested to detect new infections daily were described as likely lower than the claimed figure.
The Health department added 26 more deaths from the past days to the death list on Saturday. Thiruvananthapuram reported seven deaths. There were four at Malappuram, three each at Kollam, Kottayam and Thrissur two each at Kozhikode and Alapuzha and one each at Ernakulam and Kannur.
Malappuram’s cases continued to climb at 1,519. Thrissur had 1,109, Ernakulam 1,022, Kozhikode 926, Thiruvananthapuram 848, Palakkad 688, Kollam 656, Alapuzha 629, Kannur 464, Kottayam 411, Kasaragod 280, Pathanamthitta 203, Idukki 140 and Wayanad 121 cases.
Karnataka on Saturday reported 7,184 new cases and 71 more deaths. Bengaluru Urban district reported 3,371 cases. With 14 of 71 deaths from Bengaluru, the toll rose to 3,500. The State carried out 1,01,016 tests including 24,174 rapid antigen tests on Saturday.
Andhra Pradesh reported less than four thousand new infections. It recorded 3,676 new infections and 24 fresh deaths on Saturday.
At 5.19%, the positivity rate of 70,881 samples was the lowest in over three months. The overall positivity rate dropped to 11.14%. East Godavari’s daily new cases dropped but it continued to report the highest tallies. Chittoor had the highest number of new deaths.
Telangana’s incidence stood at 1,451 on Friday and nine more COVID-19 patients died. On October 16, a total of 42,497 people were tested for the virus. The new cases included 235 from Greater Hyderabad.
(With inputs from Thiruvananthapuram,Bengaluru, Vijayawada and Hyderabad bureaus)