Kerala recorded it's highest single day spike of COVID-19 cases on Saturday with 2,655 new infections.
Eleven deaths were also recorded in the state on Saturday taking the official toll to 337.
The state also reported 2,111 recoveries.
Of Saturday's cases, 2,433 contracted the disease through contact. Among them, the source of infection of 220 is yet to be traced. Thirty-eight of the newly-infected came from abroad while 114 came from other states.
Sixty-one health workers also tested positive – 18 from Kannur, 13 from Thiruvananthapuram, 6 from Pathanamthitta and Eranakulam, 5 from Kasaragod, 4 from Malappuram, 3 from Palakkad, 2 each from Alappuzha, Thrissur and Kozhikode.
Nine ANHS staff from Eranakulam also contracted the disease.
The state has reported 84,759 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 62,559 persons recovered. The remaining 21,800 patients are being treated in various hospitals.
Here's the district-wise break-up of today's cases:
Thiruvananthapuram - 590
Malappuram - 249
Kozhikode - 244
Thrissur - 169
Alappuzha - 131
Kannur - 222
Ernakulam - 186
Palakkad - 100
Kasaragod - 276
Pathanamthitta - 148
Kollam - 170
Kottayam - 119
Wayanad - 20
Idukki - 31
District-wise break-up of today's recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram - 512
Malappuram - 228
Kozhikode - 193
Thrissur - 110
Alappuzha - 32
Kannur - 124
Ernakulam - 128
Palakkad - 112
Kasaragod - 78
Pathanamthitta - 140
Kollam - 134
Kottayam - 121
Wayanad - 29
Idukki - 60
Key points from CM's press meet:
• An RTPCR lab, associated with the Kozhikode Regional Public Health Laboratory, to be inaugurated tomorrow (Sunday). The lab will come up at the COVID-19 training centre building at Malapparambu.
• RTPCR testing facility is available in 23 government-run labs and 10 private labs.
• Other tests like antigen, TrueNat and CBNAAT are conducted in 800 government lab and 300 private labs.
• Increase in fatality rate in Kasaragod is a matter of concern. Forty-two people died in the third wave of COVID.
• The gravity of the virus spread during Onam is yet to be identified.
• Kerala's achievement in COVID containment measures is evident when compared to the situation in other states by all yardsticks.
• Case per million in Kerala is 2,168. In Andhra Pradesh, it's 8,479. In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it's above 5,000. In Telangana – 3,482. The national average is 2,731.
• Kerala's discharge policy is stricter than other states. In other states, asymptomatic patients are discharged after 10 days. However, in Kerala, patients are discharged only after they rest negative.
• Death per million in Kerala is 8.4. In Tamil Nadu, it's 11 fold and in Karnataka 12 fold of Kerala's fatality rate. The national average is 48.
• Case fatality rate in Kerala is 0.4. In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it's 1.7. In Andhra Pradesh the rate is 0.9.
• Test per million by case per million in Kerala is 22 while it's 11 in Tamil Nadu. This means, a positive case is reported in Kerala while 22 people are tested. In Telangana, it's 10.9. In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, it's 8.4.
• Test positivity rate in Kerala is 4.3. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh , it's 11.8.
• This means Kerala has done tests in a better way than the neighbouring states.
• CM rules out lockdown in Thiruvananthapuram.
• Steps to allow driving schools to function are being taken.
Testing & quarantine
There are 1,98,120 people under observation across the state. Of them, 1,80,898 are under home/institutional quarantine while 17,222 are in hospitals. 2523 were admitted in hospitals on Saturday.
So far, 18,32,275 samples were tested in the state. A total of 40,162 samples were tested in 24 hours. In addition, as part of Sentinel Surveillance, 1,82,837 more samples were tested from priority groups.
Fourteen new regions were designated as hotspots in the state while 22 regions have been excluded from the list. There are currently 551 hotspots in the state.
Kerala's COVID-19 tally reached the 80K-mark on Friday, September 4, with 2,479 cases infections being reported, 219 days after it recorded the first case.
From January 30, 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the state, it took 168 days, or five-and-a-half months to reach the 10K-mark on July 16. However, it took only 12 more days to cross the 20,000 tally. The numbers doubled to 40K on August 14. On August 25, the numbers soared past 60K. In the next four days, 10,000 more cases were reported and the the tally crossed 70K on August 29.
