While 7,871 new coronavirus ( COVID-19 ) cases were reported in Kerala on Tuesday, there was a slight dip, with the test positivity rate at 13% and 60,494 samples being tested.
The number of patients in ICUs rose to 557, and those on ventilator also increased to 171. The State added another 25 deaths to the toll. Nine deaths were reported at Thiruvananthapuram, five at Kollam, four at Malappuram, three at Kottayam, two at Kannur and one each at Alapuzha and Kasaragod.
Over 97% of new cases were locally acquired infections including those reported in 111 healthcare workers.
Thiruvananthapuram district reported 989 cases, Malappuram 854, Kollam 845, Ernakulam 837, Thrissur 757, Kozhikode 736, Kannur 545, Palakkad 520, Kottayam 427, Alapuzha 424, Kasaragod 416, Pathanamthitta 330, Wayanad 135 and Idukki 56 cases.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media the Sate would focus on identifying and isolating symptomatic people and stringently implement the COVID-19 protocol in markets and other public places. All those who tested negative in rapid antigen tests but were symptomatic, would be re-tested using RT-PCR. All districts were asked to take steps to ensure that test positivity was below 10%. Directions had been given to ensure special care for pregnant women, children and those on dialysis who might test positive for COVID-19.
Andhra Pradesh added 5,795 new infections and 33 deaths on Tuesday. Sample testing touched 62,16,240 and the positivity rate was 11.73%. The positivity in the past day was 8.80% from 65,889 samples.
The new cases and deaths were as follows: Chittoor (970 and 3), East Godavari (801 and 4), West Godavari (696 and 2), Prakasam (580 and 5), Krishna (482 and 6), Nellore (451 and 2), Guntur (441 and 2), Kadapa (434 and 1), Visakhapatnam (303 and 4), Anantapur (209 and 3), Vizianagaram (163 and 1), Srikakulam (142 and 0), and Kurnool (123 and 0).
Telangana recorded 1,983 cases on Monday and conducted 50,598 tests. Ten more patients died. The new cases included 292 from Greater Hyderabad, 187 from Rangareddy, 145 from Medchal-Malkajgiri, 117 from Khammam, 109 from Karimnagar, 105 from Nalgonda, and 85 from Bhadradri-Kothagudem.
From March 2 to October 5, a total of 32,92,195 samples were tested and 2,02,594 were positive.
Bengaluru’s daily cases soared to 5,012 on Tuesday, after a high of 4,868 cases on September 29. The government attributed it to higher testing.
Overall, the State reported 9,993 new cases and 91 new deaths.
In all, 92,491 more tests were conducted including 48,035 rapid antigen tests.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Bengaluru bureaus)
