COVID-19: Kerala Marks Downward Trend in Case Numbers, Positivity Rates Fall in Several Districts

The state of Kerala, which has been witnessing a surge in number of COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks, is now reporting a decrease in the positivity rate. The weekly report by the Department of Health indicates that the spread of COVID-19 is decreasing in the state.

A comparison of data from the third and fourth week of October (October 11 to 17 and October 18 to 24) showed that the positivity rate for COVID-19 in 11 out of 14 districts has come down. The test-positivity rate in Malappuram district, which was at the highest with 31.6% in the third week of October, has come down to 20.6% in the fourth week.

A look back to the report from last week shows that the positivity rate was lower in eight districts as compared to the week prior to that. Over the same period, as many as 168 COVID-19 deaths were reported. Of 3.89 lakh samples tested during the period, results of 51,795 people were positive for COVID-19.

Courtesy: Health and Family Welfare Department Government of Kerala

The districts of Kollam (12.5%), Pathanamthitta (9.3%) and Alappuzha (17.6%) have seen a slight increase in positivity rates, however. At present, the lowest positivity rate is in Idukki, at 5.7%. Wayanad follows with 6.4%. Despite the slight increase, Pathanamthitta district is the third-lowest in the positivity rate list. Although the number has declined by 11%, the highest positivity rate is still from Malappuram district.

Except Alappuzha, all districts have witnessed a dip in cases per million people. In Kozhikode district, where the number of cases per million people was 2,418 – the highest in the state during the third week of October – the figure has now decreased to 1835. Only Alappuzha has marked an increase, with 2127 cases per million people against 1993 a week ago.

Courtesy: Health and Family Welfare Department Government of Kerala

 On October 28, the state reported 8,790 new COVID-19 cases, including 94 health workers, taking the total count to 3.98 lakh cases while the death toll climbed to 1,403 with 27 more fatalities, Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said.

The state had reported 5,457 cases on October 27 and 4287 on October 26. The total number of recovered patients has gone up to 3,16,692, with 7,660 people getting cured on Wednesday, the minister said in a press release.

As many as 93,264 patients are presently undergoing treatment, according to the release. Three districts accounted for over 1,000 cases on Wednesday – Ernakulam was the highest at 1,250, followed by Kozhikode (1149) and Thrissur (1018).

"Of the positive cases, 178 had come from outside the state and 7646 were infected through contact. As many as 94 health workers, including 22 from Thiruvananthapuram and 19 each from Kozhikode and Kannur were among those who were infected on Wednesday,” Shailaja said.

As of Wednesday, the number of active cases was 93,264 and as many as 3,16,692 people have recovered. So far, 44,076,730 samples have been sent for testing.