Of 27,254 new Covid-19 cases in India, Kerala has added the most

Of the 27,254 new Covid-19 cases and 219 deaths reported in the last 24 hours in India, Kerala contributed the most number of infections and fatalities, according to data. Kerala recorded 20,240 Covid-19 cases and 67 deaths on Sunday, which have taken the southern state's tally to 43,75,431 and death toll to 22,551.

India on Monday logged a slight dip in cases of Covid-19 after reporting 28,591 infections on Sunday. The country's infection tally stands at 33,264,175 and the number of active cases has declined to 374,269, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare. The death toll due to the disease has risen to 442,874 with 219 daily fatalities, the data updated at 8am showed.

The Kerala government said that the test positivity rate (TPR) was recorded at 17.51 per cent after 115,575 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, according to a state government release. The release added that among the 14 districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases with 2,572 followed by Thrissur 2,451, Thiruvananthapuram 1,884, Kozhikode 1,805, Kottayam 1,780, Kollam 1,687, Palakkad 1,644, Malappuram 1,546, Kannur 1,217 and Alappuzha 1,197.

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Of the new Covid-19 cases in Kerala, 101 were health workers, 114 from outside the state and 19,251 infected have been through contact, it said. The source of the contact is not clear in 774 cases, it added. There are 603,315 people under surveillance in various districts, of whom 5,72,761 are at home or institutional quarantine and 30,554 in hospitals currently. The bulletin also said that since Saturday, 29,710 people recovered from the infection taking the total number to 41,30,065 and the number of active cases to 2,22,255.

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Meanwhile, Kerala health minister Veena George said on Sunday that the samples of four close contacts of the 12-year-old child who succumbed to Nipah virus infection on September 5 have returned negative. However, the source was yet to be identified and the government was giving top priority to it, George added. "Four samples of the close contacts of the child were tested again for confirmation. All were tested negative. Our field surveillance is continuing along with the fever surveillance. The sample testing is also continuing in the epicentre of the infection," she told reporters.

The minister said that it was important to identify the source of infection and the surveillance team from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, has been collecting samples from various areas.