Kerala recorded it's highest single day spike with 11,755 cases of COVID-19 confirmed on Saturday. The 11,755 positive cases come from the 66,228 samples tested, which indicates that the state's Test Positivity Rate for the day is 17.75%. That means more than 17 out of every of 100 people tested have turned positive for the virus.
More than 11,000 cases were reported from Malappuram, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Ernakulam and Kollam districts.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday told media that October and November months will be crucial for the state as the positive cases will further increase. He said that TPR above 10 indicates that the spread of the disease is higher and more people will test positive. He pointed out that the density of population in Kerala is much higher compared to its neighboring states and therefore the state needs to be more cautious. While in Tamil Nadu the density of population is 555, it is 319 in Karnataka, while Kerala has a higher population density at 859. (Density of population refers to number of people living in a sq km of area).
The CM said that despite higher density of population, the state was able to initially control the numbers, while both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have crossed 6 lakh cases each. He also said that the death rate in Kerala is low compared to other states because of the state's efficient healthcare system.
The Chief Minister reminded people that in the last few months Kerala has ramped up its medical capacities, however the medical community was getting tired after working tirelessly for months now. He urged people to be more careful than ever, to listen to the medical community and to wear masks and practice physical distancing.
On Saturday, 7570 patients recovered, while 95918 patients are currently under treatment in the state. A total of 1,82874 patients have recovered so far. The highest number of people who are in treatment is in Ernakulam district which is 12601. The lowest number of active cases are in Wayanad, 1092. CM pointed that more women are getting infected in Thiruvananthapuram district these days.
Chief Minister said that in around 30% of people who recover the virus, it has been noticed that symptoms persists for some time despite the recovery. In children, multi-system inflammatory syndrome, a severe respiratory was found commonly even after the recovery.
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