The Kerala government extended the statewide lockdown by another week even as the state reported 29,673 new COVID-19 cases and 41,032 recoveries on Friday.
With this, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the state fell to 3,06,346. So far, 19,79,919 people have been cured of the disease. The test positivity rate in the state is 22.22 per cent.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the existing lockdown will be extended until May 30. However, triple lockdown will be withdrawn in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts after a noticeable decline in test positivity rate was reported in these districts. However, strict curbs will continue in Malappuram where it remains high.
Vijayan also said the government will take necessary measures to ensure enough medicines to treat black fungus, a disease that is on the rise in India.
Recently, it was declared as an epidemic by the Union government. Awareness campaigns will be carried out across the state on black fungus, the CM said.
Of the new cases, 27,353 contracted the virus through contact while 215 came from outside the state and 129 are healthcare workers.
A total of 1,33,558 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. So far, 1,85,55,023 samples have been sent for testing.
Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram and Ernakulam districts reported the most number of cases—4151, 3499 and 3102 respectively.
A total of 142 COVID-19 deaths too were confirmed on Friday. With this, the death toll in the state rose to 6,994.
There are currently 9,88,009 people under observation across the state. Of them, 9,49,300 are under home or institutional quarantine while 38,709 are in hospitals.
