Kerala reports 26,200 new COVID-19 cases

Kerala reported 26,200 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and 114 deaths, according to the state health bulletin.

The bulletin said 1,56,957 samples were tested on Thursday and the test positivity rate stands at 16.69 per cent. The number of recovered patients is 29,209. The number of active cases in the state is 2,36,345 and recovered cases is 40,50,665.

Earlier in the day, state Health Minister Veena George had said that cases in the state were declining.

She had also said that 90 per cent of people who succumbed to COVID-19 in the state from June 15 to date were those who were unvaccinated and had co-morbidities.

With the state all set to reopen higher education institutions for final year students on October 4, the government is expecting to finish administering the first dose of COVID vaccine to all college students before September 30, the minister said.

( With inputs from ANI )