Kerala’s COVID-19 tally is inching towards the grim milestone of 25,000 with 1,129 cases on Saturday as the toll climbed to 82 with nine more fatalities. Thiruvananthapuram, which has 3,167 patients under treatment, continued to report the highest number of per day cases with 259, followed by Kasaragod 153 and Malappuram 141.
Among districts, Kozhikode had 95 cases, Pathanamthitta 85, Thrissur 76, Alappuzha 67, Ernakulam 59, Kottayam and Palakkad 47 cases each, Wayanad 46, Kollam 35, Idukki 14 and Kannur five. The total number of positive cases has soared to24,736 while 10,862 people are presently under treatment and 13,779 have recovered from the disease.
Of the positive cases, 89 had come from abroad and 114 from other states and 880 were infected through contact and the source of infection of 58 people is not yet known, she said. As many as 241 people in Thiruvananthapuram, 151 in Kasaragod and 83 in Malappuram were infected through contact.
An 81-year-old nun and an Idukki Special Branch Sub Inspector were among those who succumbed to the virus. The SI is the first policeman in Kerala to die of COVID- 19. DGP Loknath Behera condoled his death.
About 1,43,996 people are presently under observation, of whom 1,33,616 are in home/institutional quarantine and 10,380 are in hospitals, including 1257 admitted on Saturday. In the last 24 hours, 20,518 samples were tested. So far, 7,95,919 samples have been sent for testing and results of 5,971 are awaited.