While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and 20 of his Cabinet colleagues were being administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Governor, the Covid-19 situation in Kerala continued to be grave and critical. The State saw 128 lives being claimed by the pandemic during the last 24 hours that ended on Thursday 6 pm.
A total of 30,441 new cases were diagnosed by the department of health on Thursday. The Test Positivity Rate for the day was 23.18 per cent.
Malappuram topped the table of districts with highest number of new cases. The district saw 4,746 persons diagnosed with Covid-19 while 3,969 new cases were logged in Thiruvananthapuram. Ernakulam, which is also under triple lockdown orders recorded 3,336 new patients.
Out of the 30, 441 new cases tested positive today, 28, 176 had contracted the pandemic through contact. The number of health workers tested positive on Thursday were 101, underscoring the demand by the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association about the need to deploy more doctors, nurses and para-medical staff in all hospitals. Every day in Kerala sees a minimum of 100 health workers newly getting afflicted with Covid-19.
There were 3.17 lakh persons under treatment for Covid-19 across the State.