Kerala records 19,622 new cases as TPR comes down to 16.74%

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala continued to reel under Covid with 19,622 cases reported after 1,17,216 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and the test positivity rate stood at 16.74 per cent, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday.

In a statement issued here, he also said that the day saw 22,563 people turning negative while the total number of active cases was 2,09,493.

As many as 132 fresh deaths were reported, taking the death toll to 20,673.

One reason for a marginal decline in new cases was on account of fewer tests being conducted on Sunday.

In a related development, starting Monday, there will be a night curfew across the state from 10 p.m. till 6 a.m., and the police have warned that those who break the curfew would be punished.

On Monday, Thrissur district accounted for the maximum cases with 3,177.

Vijayan has called for an online meeting with top experts in the field of handling Covid on Wednesday as Kerala recently has taken a lot of flak of recording over 60 per cent of the daily cases in the country.