Kerala’s COVID-19 tally touched 6,02,982 cases on Monday, when 3,382 new cases were reported from 34,689 samples. A dip in testing on Sunday resulted in the slump. But the test positivity rate remained 9.75%.
In October, the State reported the maximum of 2,35,889 new cases. There were 741 deaths in October. The November figures showed the case load going down by 73,037.
Deaths did not show a big decrease, and 732 fatalities were added in November.
While low disease transmission was seen and new cases dropped in many places, in districts like Idukki, Wayanad, Kottayam and Malappuram, cases were again on the rise.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said new cases seemed to be coming down, but the recovery rate did not show a matching increase. With local body election campaigning on in full swing, the disease curve was almost certain to rise again. On Monday, 21 more deaths were added to the official list.
Six deaths were reported from Thrissur, four from Thiruvananthapuram, three from Kottayam and two each from Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Kozhikode.
Andhra Pradesh reported 381 fresh infections, and four new deaths on Monday.
In the past day, 40,728 tests were conducted. Their positivity rate was the lowest in six months at 0.94%.
The infection tally was 8,68,064 and the death toll 6,992.
The number of active cases came down to 7,840 as 934 patients recovered in the past day. The overall recoveries were 8,53,232 and the recovery rate was 98.29%.
Anantapur, Krishna, Chittoor and Visakhpatnam reported one new death each.
All the districts reported less than 100 new infections.
Telangana recorded 593 cases on Sunday from only 33,040 samples.
The 593 new cases included 119 from Greater Hyderabad, 61 from Rangareddy, 55 from Medchal-Malkajgiri and 40 from Karimnagar.
Karnataka on Monday added 998 new cases.
Testing on Sunday was lower at 81,333 samples with a positivity rate of 1.22 %. Of new cases, 444 were in Bengaluru Urban district.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Bengaluru bureaus)