A huge dip in testing by nearly 50% over the weekend brought down the COVID-19 case graph of the State, which had been spiralling upwards steadily since the past three weeks.
On Monday, the State logged 26,514 new cases, when 55,557 samples were tested in 24 hours.
The State’s active case pool actually showed a reduction from 2,64,638 on Sunday to 2,60,271 on Monday, when the number of recoveries rose to 30,710. Of the 2,60,271, cases, 3.8% are currently admitted in hospitals or field hospitals like COVID first line/second line treatment centres.
The Health department’s data says that during January 14-23, the average active cases were 1,95,258, out of which an average of around 0.7 % were admitted in oxygen beds and 0.4% in ICUs. New cases increased by 183% (1,70,977 cases), while active cases increased by 189% during this period, in comparison to the previous week. Hospitalisations increased by 99% and ICU occupancy by 59%. Oxygen bed requirement rose by 120%.
On Monday, the number of patients who newly entered hospitals with COVID-19 was 881. Total number of hospitalisations has risen to 10,038.
The official cumulative COVID-19 case fatality in the State now stands at 51,987, with the addition of 171 deaths to the official list on Monday. This includes 13 recent deaths and 158 deaths which have now been accepted as COVID deaths by the government as per the new guidelines of the Centre and following the appeals filed by families. The State’s cumulative COVID-19 burden now stands at 56,69,611 cases.
In districts
Among districts, Ernakulam reported the highest number of new cases with 4,443 cases, Thiruvananthapuram 3,256, Kozhikode 2,979, Thrissur 2,687, Kollam 2,421, Kottayam 1,900, Malappuram 1,710, Palakkad 1,498, Kannur 1,260, Alappuzha 1,165, Pathanamthitta 1,065, Idukki 1,033, Kasaragod 573 and Wayanad 524 cases.
