BackKerala reports 35,636 new Covid-19 cases, 48 deaths in 24 hours
CM Pinarayi Vijayan said that there might be a complete lockdown in districts with a high positivity rate from May 4.
PremiumKerala reported 35,636 new Covid-19 cases, 48 deaths, and 15,493 recoveries on Saturday. The state's death toll has climbed to 5,356, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a media briefing on Saturday.
There are 3,23,828 active cases at present, with 52,836 undergoing treatment in Ernakulam, 46,427 in Kozhikode and 36,650in Malappuram, Chief Minister Vijayan said.
Kozhikode reported the highest number of 5,554 cases in the past 24 hours, followed by Ernakulam (5,002), Thrissur (4,070), and Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram reported over 3,000 cases each. In the last 24 hours, 1,46,474 samples were tested and the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) stood at 24.33 per cent.
At least 108 returnees from UK, eight from South Africa and one from Brazil have so far tested positive for the virus. The samples of 114 of them returned negative and 11 were found infected with the mutant strains so far, the C said. At least 6,87,843 people are under observation in various districts, including 25,326 in hospitals.
Further, the chief minister said that he will take legal action against all those private laboratories which won't conduct the RT-PCR tests. On April 29, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja slashed the RT-PCR test priced to ₹500 from ₹1,200 in all the private laboratories of the state.
The Kerala CM also assured that the state is fully prepared for the assembly results' counting day. CM Vijayan said, "Strict measures are in place at counting centres for crowd control. The winning candidates should avoid victory celebrations. The usual practice of visiting people after victory should not be carried out by candidates considering the Covid-19 situation".
Separately, the Kerala chief minister said that there might be a complete lockdown in districts with a high positivity rate from May 4.
"The surge in the COVID cases shows that the situation in the state is going worse. In this context, the interventions have been strengthened at all levels. Apart from the restrictions announced earlier, a full lockdown may have to be imposed in some districts where the Test Positivity Rate is exceeding 50 per cent. We will be going for more stringent restrictions from May 4," Vijayan said on Friday.
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