Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala recorded 19,661 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday after testing 1,28,525 samples, taking the test positivity rate to 15.3 per cent.
The number of deaths due to the disease confirmed in a day however crossed 200 for the first time in the state.
On Wednesday, 213 deaths were recorded taking the death toll to 9,222. Though more deaths were reported, the state is yet to ascertain them as Covid deaths. Tests are underway at the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha.
The state also reported 29,708 recoveries in the past 24 hours.
With this, the number of active cases in the state fell below 2 lakh for the first time since April 25. The state has 1,92,165 active patients now.
Kerala has reported 25,66,000 COVID-19 cases so far. Of them, 23,64,210 recovered.
Of the new cases, 18,340 had contracted the virus through contact while 156 had come from outside the state. Among the contact cases, the source of infection of 1,081 is yet to be traced. There are 84 health workers among the new cases.
Here's the break-up of today's positive cases:
Thiruvananthapuram - 2,380 (contact cases - 2,241)
Malappuram - 2,346 (2,272)
Ernakulam - 2,325 (2,181)
Palakkad - 2,117 (1,379)
Kollam - 1,906 (1,892)
Alappuzha - 1,758 (1,753)
Kozhikode - 1,513 (1,490)
Thrissur - 1,401 (1,394)
Idukki - 917 (878)
Kottayam - 846 (822)
Kannur - 746 (684)
Pathanamthitt - 638 (611)
Kasaragod - 461 (450)
Wayanad - 307 (293)
Recoveries:
Ernakulam - 4,910
Malappuram - 4,327
Kollam - 4,139
Palakkad - 2,569
Thiruvananthapuram - 2,531
Alappuzha - 2,040
Kozhikode - 1,963
Thrissur - 1,706
Kottayam - 1,358
Kannur - 1,296
Idukki - 922
Pathanamthitta - 905
Kasaragod - 645
Wayanad - 397
Testing and Quarantine
Till Wednesday, 2,00,55,047 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing.
A total of 7,42,157 people are under observation across the state. Of them, 7,05,375 are under home or institutional quarantine while 36,782 are in hospitals across the state. A total of 2,840 were admitted in hospitals on Wednesday.
Ten regions were removed from the list of hotspots on Wednesday. The total number of hotspots is at 877 in the state now.
