Kerala Government’s claim on Monday that the number of Covid-19 patients in the State was coming down suffered a setback as 29,803 new people were diagnosed with the virus on Tuesday. The day also saw 177 people falling victims to Covid-19 during the last 24 hours ending Tuesday evening.
A release by the department of health said that 1.43 lakh samples were tested on Tuesday against Monday’s 87,000. “These figures are not an indication of the declining trend of the pandemic in the State. More samples you test, more the number of positive figures,” said a senior government doctor in the State. He said there were many discrepancies in the figures churned out by the administration.
The number of health workers getting contracted with the pandemic continued to be high on Tuesday. The day saw 94 health workers getting afflicted with COVID-19. The hike in the number of health workers contracting the pandemic comes at a time when the State is facing shortage of doctors and health professionals, said a doctor who is a member of the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association.
Test Positivity Rate across the State remained at 20.84 per cent. But the district wise figures did not show any decline. Malappuram tested 5,315 positive cases on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the disappearance of gold ornaments from the bodies of patients who succumb to the pandemic have become a routine incident in the State. Government Hospitals in Alappuzha have reported a number of cases in which gold ornaments disappeared from the bodies.