After the weekend, Kerala’s graph dipped to 5,022 new COVID-19 cases, from 36,599 samples. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana also reported a drop cases.
The dip in Kerala was proportionate to a lower number of samples, seen from the test positivity rate which stood at 13.7%, slightly higher than the previous day.
There was a small dip in the number of critically ill patients in ICUs, although it was not clear if this was due to recovery or death of patients. The number of patients in ICUs stood at 746, with 187 on ventilator support.
The Health Department added 21 more deaths from the past few weeks to the State’s official toll on Monday. Ernakulam reported five deaths, Kozhikode four, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram three each, Malappuram and Kollam two each and Kannur and Kasaragod one each.
Of the new cases reported on Monday, 4,963 cases were locally acquired infections.
Malappuram district was consistently reporting the highest number of cases over the past few days, while the epidemic curve was beginning to plateau or decline in many other districts.
On Monday, Malappuram reported 910 cases, Kozhikode 772, Ernakulam 598, Thrissur 533, Thiruvananthapuram 516, Kollam 378, Alappuzha 340, Kannur 293, Palakkad 271, Kottayam 180, Kasaragod 120, Wayanad 51, Pathanamthitta 32 and Idukki 28 cases.
Ernakulam registered a decline in active cases, but had 11,468 patients. Kozhikode had 10,852, Malappuram 10,810 and Thiruvananthapuram, 9,205 cases.
Continuing with its downward trend, Andhra Pradesh recorded less than 3,000 new cases and the lowest single-day test positivity rate in the past three months.
On Monday morning, 2,918 new cases and 24 deaths were reported.
While 61,330 samples were tested, their positivity rate at 4.76% was the lowest in the three-month period.
East Godavari district registered 468 new cases, the highest. Four districts reported the highest number of new deaths, while seven districts recorded zero or one each.
The new cases and deaths were: East Godavari (468 and 2), West Godavari (447 and 1), Chittoor (380 and 4), Guntur (333 and 4), Prakasam (308 and 1), Anantapur (218 and 0), Kadapa (155 and 3), Srikakulam (143 and 0), Visakhapatnam (120 and 4), Nellore (119 and 1), Krishna (117 and 4), Kurnool (66 and 0), Vizianagaram (44 and 0).
Telangana recorded only 948 cases on Sunday, a sub-1,000 incidence in the State after more than two months.
But only 26,027 people were tested, as was the case more than two months ago, at less than 30,000 samples.
Also, eight to 10 deaths were being reported everyday but on October 19, only four deaths were reported.
The 948 fresh cases included 212 in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, 98 from Rangareddy, 65 from Medchal-Malkajgiri, and 63 from Karimnagar. Of the 26,027 people who were tested, 24,397 opted government facilities and 1,630 underwent tests in private labs. Results of 1,050 were awaited.
Karnataka also reported a lower incidence of 5,018 cases on Monday. Yet, 64 deaths were reported in the State.
The positivity rate for the day was 6.38%, while the case fatality rate was 1.27%.
A total of 78,581 tests were conducted on Monday.
In Bengaluru Urban district, as many as 2,481 new COVID-19 cases were detected and 2,481 patients were discharged on Monday.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Bengaluru bureaus)
