Kerala records 22,182 new Covid cases

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 16 Kerala on Thursday recorded 22,182 new Covid cases after 1,21,486 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan says that things are under control.

Contrary to the earlier practice of holding the daily test positivity rate as the bench mark, the official statement on the Covid situation, issued by Vijayan, doesn't have this figure since Wednesday.

In the statement, he said 26,563 people turned negative taking the total active cases to 1,86,190 cases, with around 13 per cent of the patients admitted to various hospitals.

Another 178 Covid deaths were reported, taking the death toll in the state to 23,165.

As on date, 80.9 per cent of the Kerala population above 18 years have been given the first dose of vaccines while 32.6 per cent have received both the doses.