Kerala reported 29,682 new COVID cases and 25,910 recoveries on Saturday.
With this, the number of active COVID cases in the state rose to 2,50,065.
So far, 39,09,096 have been cured of the disease.
Of the new cases, 28,008 contracted the virus through contact while 185 came from outside the state and 132 are healthcare workers.
Night curfew, Sunday lockdown to continue
In order to curb the spread of COVID, the Kerala government on Saturday decided to continue the night curfew (10 pm to 6 am) and Sunday lockdown.
However, this will be reviewed again on Tuesday.
'No big spike after Onam'
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that there has not been a big COVID spike after the Onam holiday as earlier feared.
He further added that at a meeting of renowned healthcare practitioners and virologists, Kerala's COVID containment measures were hailed.
The meeting was attended by Dr David Peters, Dr Bharat Pankhania, Dr Devi Sridhar, Dr Ajay Mahal, Dr Sam Pratt, Dr David Wilson, Dr R Gangakhedkar, Dr Anurag Agrawal, Dr Jacob John, Dr Sanjay Pujari, Dr Giridhara Babu, Dr Shahid Jameel, Dr Swarup Sarkar and other healthcare experts.
Kerala is way ahead of the national average of 40.05 per cent (first dose) and 12.05 per cent (second dose), Vijayan pointed out.
So far, 75 per cent of citizens above the age of 18 have received their first doses (2,15,72,491 doses) while 27.84 per cent have got their second doses - 79,90,200 doses.
In total, 60.94 per cent of citizens have got their first doses and 22.57 per cent have been vaccinated with their second shots as well.
In July and August, Kerala used 1.95 crore doses of vaccination and the figures for August alone was 88 lakhs.
Kerala is expected to receive 9,97,570 more doses of COVID vaccines on Sunday.
Vijayan urged the elderly citizens and those with comorbidities who are yet to receive their vaccination to do so immediately.
Thrissur, Ernakulam among worst-hit districts
The test positivity rate (TPR) in the state is 17.54.
Thrissur, Ernakulam and Malappuram districts reported the most cases - 3474, 3456 and 3166 respectively.
More COVID deaths
A total of 142 COVID deaths too were confirmed on Saturday.
With this, the COVID death toll in the state rose to 21,422.
Testing and quarantine
A total of 1,69,237 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.
So far, 3,22,34,770 samples have been sent for testing.
There are currently 6,03,968 people under observation across the state.
Of them, 5,70,557 are under home or institutional quarantine while 33,441 are in hospitals.
During the last three weeks, the hospital occupancy has seen a downward trend, Vijayan said.
While 5.99 per cent of the active cases between August 16 and 20 were admitted to hospitals, the rate dropped to 5.23 per cent between August 28 and September 3.
The Chief Minister also inaugurated the 'Be The Warrior' campaign alongside Health Minister Veena George on Saturday.
