Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala recorded 5,980 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, pushing the caseload to 9,83,374, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said during a press meet.
With 64,346 patients under treatment, Kerala has the highest active COVID-19 tally in India. Almost half of the daily reported cases in the country are from the state.
As many as 5,745 people were cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries to 9,14,847.
In the last 24 hours ending 2 pm, 80,106 samples were tested and the test positivity rate was 7.47 per cent.
With 18 deaths being reported on Wednesday, the state's death toll has risen to 3,920.
Of the positive cases, 41 were health workers, while 96 had come from outside the state and 5,457 infected through contact. The source of infection of 386 among them is unknown.
No UK returnee has tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.
District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:
Ernakulam – 811 (748 contact cases)
Kollam – 689 (677)
Kozhikode – 652 (622)
Kottayam – 575 (535)
Pathanamthitta – 571 (514)
Thrissur – 540 (524)
Thiruvananthapuram – 455 (320)
Malappuram – 421 (395)
Alappuzha – 411 (405)
Kannur – 213 (188)
Wayanad – 201 (195)
Palakkad – 191 (109)
Idukki – 179 (163)
Kasaragod - 71 (62)
District-wise breakup of recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram – 354
Kollam – 738
Pathanamthitta – 417
Alappuzha – 394
Kottayam – 234
Idukki – 385
Ernakulam – 766
Thrissur – 440
Palakkad – 196
Malappuram – 318
Kozhikode – 829
Wayanad – 315
Kannur – 277
Kasaragod – 82
Key points from CM's speech:
• Though the number of new cases are coming down, the situation is still remains serious.
• Measures will be taken to conduct 1 lakh tests per day in every district. Of them, 75% will be RT-PCR tests.
• The latest salary revision and pension revision will come into effect from April, 2021.
• The District Hospital in Mananthavady, Wayanad, has been upgraded as a medical college hospital.
• PSC lists are prepared by including candidates five times the vacant positions. Hence a good number of rank-holders don't get appointed. Measures have been taken to ensure that all vacant slots are being reported to PSC immediately without fail. A committee has been formed with the Chief Secretary at the helm to ensure this.
• 500 beat forest officers will be appointed from tribal communities by the Kerala Forest Department.
• No temporary employee appointed during this government's tenure has been made permanent. Those who completed 10 years of service now where appointed during the UDF government's period. There is no political interference with the appointments.
• 80% of the rank holders are less unlikely to get appointed.
• Cartoonist Yesudasan will be honoured with the Swadeshabhimani Kesari Award this year.
Testing and quarantine
A total of 2,34,767 people are under observation in various districts. Of these, 2,24,378 are under home or institutional quarantine and 10,389 are in hospitals.
1,178 people were admitted in hospitals on Wednesday.
So far, 1,02,94,203 samples (including the augmented sample) have been sent for testing.
On Wednesday, 11 more regions have been converted into hotspots and 11 have been excluded from the list retaining the total number of hotspots 459 in the state.
