Kerala records new highs of 95 COVID-19 deaths, 43,529 fresh cases of infection

Thiruvananthapuram, May 12, 2021

Kerala today recorded new highs of 95 deaths due to COVID-19 and 43,529 cases of infection in the last 24 hours.

According to figures put out by the Department of Health, the death toll so far has crossed the 6,000-mark to 6,053 while the total number of positive cases, since the first COVID cases were reported in Kerala and in India in late January 2020, has gone past the two-million mark to 2,010,934.

With 146,320 samples tested in the past 24 hours, the test positive rate in the state stood at 29.75%.

The number of active cases stood at 432,789 as of this evening.

As many as 34,600 people recovered from the disease today, taking the total so far to 1,571,738. A total of 1,001,647 were in home or institutional quarantine or in hospital isolation, the figures showed.

IANS adds:

Ernakulam district continues to have the highest number of active cases, at 67,180, while Thrissur with 54,543 cases comes next.

There were 740 hot spots in the state.

On Wednesday, police collected fines amounting to Rs 34.50 lakh after more than 15,000 cases were registered against people who violated Covid norms.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan requested that, with Eid-ul-Fitr to be celebrated in the state on Thursday, Muslims should ensure that, given the grave situation, there are no celebrations and all prayers are held at home.

He said that with regards to the supply of vaccines, the state has on numerous occasions requested the Centre to supply the vaccine doses for those aged above 45 at the earliest.

"The population in this age group here is around 1.13 crore and hence we require 2.26 crores doses. We wish that the supplies arrive at the earliest as this is one way to keep the death rate to the minimum," Vijayan said.

Vijayan also pointed out that heavy rains are predicted in the state in the coming days and asked the Health Department to ensure that all steps are taken to see that generators are kept ready at all hospitals, in case of any power outages.

NNN