For the third consecutive day, Kerala recorded over 30,000 COVID-19 cases, on Friday.
As many as 32,801 cases were reported in the state in the past 24 hours, with a test positivity rate of 19.22. The state had reported 31,445 cases on Wednesday and 30,000 cases on Thursday.
As many as 179 deaths were reported on Friday, taking the death toll due to the pandemic to 20,313.
Malappuram district had the most number of positive cases at 4,032, followed by Thrissur (3,953) and Ernakulam (3,627).
The state now has 1,95,254 active cases.
As many as 18,573 people recovered from the pandemic in the past 24 hours.
The opposition Congress, meanwhile, continued its attack on the state government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the rising coronavirus cases, saying the COVID-19 management has been "hijacked" by the officials and the state was hiding details about deaths and claiming a low fatality rate.
"We had raised a serious allegation that the government was deliberately showing a low death rate related to COVID-19. The government has been hiding around 25,000 deaths in Kerala and has been claiming that the death rate is low in the state. This means that the government has been hiding the death rate in the state to take credit," leader of opposition in the state assembly, V.D. Satheesan had told reporters.
"There is no role for the chief minister or the health minister here. Everything is decided by some officials. They have hijacked the COVID-19 management. The CM and the health minister are parroting the officials," he further said.
Since July 27, after restrictions were relaxed for a few days on account of two festivals, Kerala has been logging more than or close to 20,000 almost every day. On Thursday, the state reported 30,007 cases.
—With PTI inputs
