Covid-19 situation in Kerala continued to be critical on Sunday despite the two-day long total local down during the weekend. By Sunday evening, the Health Minister’s office said in a release that out of the 1.42 lakh samples tested in the course of the day, 17,466 new persons were diagnosed with Covid-19. The Test Positivity Rate (average) stood at 12.3 per cent.
Though there was a dip in the number of new patients logged on Sunday, the hike in TPR is a cause of concern, according to various doctors working in Government Hospitals in the State. On Sunday, 66 deaths were recorded from various places in Kerala and this took the death toll till date to 16,035.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who used to regularly brief the media every evening at 6 pm has chosen to stay away from briefing the reporters. No reason has been furnished by the Chief Minister’s Office for the cancellation of the media briefing.
Malappuram with 2,684 patients topped the table of 14 districts in the State and was closely followed by Kozhikode (2,379), Thrissur ( 2,190), Ernakulam (1,687), Palakkad (1,552), Kollam (1,263) and Thiruvananthapuram (1,222).
There are 2,71 regions in the State with TPR of 15 per cent and above. Many areas have been brought under Triple Lock Down. The Government has announced that in the backdrop of the hike in Covid cases in the State, the Amavasya (offering to ancestors- Bali Tharppanam) scheduled on August 8 would not be allowed in the Government administered temples. This has been done to prevent crowding of the believers who usually turn out in lakhs at places like Shankumugham Beach, Thiruvallam, Varkkala ( Trivandrum), Aluva, Chelamattam and Kalady (Ernakulam) to observe Sraadham.