The State reported 32,680 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday when 1,22,628 samples were tested in the past 24 hours. The test positivity rate (TPR) on Saturday stood at 26.65%.
The slight decline in daily case numbers over the past three days, with the State on a lockdown and the TPR appearing to stabilise around 28%, has prompted many to speculate whether the State has scaled the peak of the second wave of the pandemic. While it may be too early to assume so, the fact that the State’s active case pool and hospital admissions are continuing to rise is a cause for concern.
The State’s active case pool, which had 4,42,194 patients on Friday, rose to 4,45,334 on Saturday. The number of COVID-19 patients being treated in hospitals across the State is 37,067, with 3,974 persons newly admitted on Saturday.
A total of 3,622 persons are occupying ICUs in public and private hospitals across the State, while 1,465 COVID patients are on ventilator support.
The ICU occupancy showed a steep increase of 930 new patients from the previous day’s figures. This can be attributed to the addition of the number of ICU patients in private hospitals as well to the ICU occupancy status in the government’s daily reports from Saturday.
29,442 recoveries
Meanwhile, the State reported 29,442 recoveries on Saturday. Presently, a total of 9,94,204 persons are undergoing home or institutional isolation.
On Saturday, the State reported 96 deaths, taking the cumulative COVID-19 fatalities since the pandemic began to 6,339. However, these are deaths that occurred over the past few days.
Thiruvananthapuram reported 25 of the deaths, Kozhikode 19, Thrissur 12, Ernakulam, Wayanad and Kannur nine each, Malappuram eight, Palakkad three, while one death each was reported from Idukki and Pathanamthitta.
The State’s cumulative case burden since the pandemic began, now stands at 21,18, 263 cases. Ernakulam continues to have the highest number of active cases with 69,835. However, Thiruvananthapuram, with 45,290 active cases, has the highest number of hospitalisations at 5,580.
Among districts, Malappuram reported the highest number of new cases on Saturday with 4,782, Ernakulam 3,744, Thrissur 3,334, Thiruvananthapuram 3,292, Palakkad 3,165, Kozhikode 2,966, Kollam 2,332, Kottayam 2,012, Alappuzha 1,996, Kannur 1,652, Pathanamthitta 1,119, Kasaragod 847, Idukki 737 and Wayanad 702 cases.