Covid-19 update: Kerala reports 353 fresh cases, Karnataka reports 2 deaths as of 27 December

India saw a single-day rise of 529 Covid infections, while the active cases have decreased to 3,093 as around 603 people have recovered.

BySumit Jha

Published Dec 27, 2023 | 1:07 PMUpdatedDec 27, 2023 | 2:24 PM

Three out of every four cases in December 2023 were turning out to be JN.1. (Shutterstock)

Kerala reported 353 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, according to data on the Union Health Ministry website on Wednesday, 27 December. The state has not reported any new Covid-19 deaths.

The number of active cases in the state has gone up to 2,954. The total number of people who have died due to Covid-19 in Kerala since its outbreak three years ago reached 72,064.

The number of people who were cured, discharged, or migrated in the last 24 hours after being diagnosed with the infection stood at 494. With that, the total number of cases under this category rose to 68,39,256 till date.

Karnataka reports two deaths

Karnataka has reported 74 fresh cases of Covid-19 and two Covid-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours. This takes the total number of active cases in the state to 464.

With this, the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in the state after the recent spike in cases stands at 9.

In the last 24 hours, as many as 44 patients have been discharged and a total of 6,403 tests have been conducted including 4,680 RT-PCR and 1,723 Rapid Antigen tests. Positivity rate stands at 1.15 percent while case fatality rate stands at 2.70 percent.

The maximum number of tests were conducted in Bengaluru. Out of the 2,104 tests conducted, 57 have been found positive for the virus, which is the highest as compared to other districts of the state.

The two deceased were aged 51. One of them was admitted in Dakshina Kannada with symptoms of fever, cough, and breathlessness on 22 December. He had severe acute respiratory infection and died on 23 December. He was unvaccinated.

The other patient was admitted in Mysuru with symptoms of cough and breathlessness on 20 December and died on 25 December. He also had a severe acute respiratory infection but was vaccinated, the bulletin stated.

As of Tuesday, the total active cases reported in the state stands at 464. Out of these, 423 people are in home isolation while the remaining 41 are hospitalised. Among those hospitalised, 16 have been admitted to ICU and 25 are admitted in the general ward, it added.

Amid a spike in cases and detection of JN.1 infections in the state, the Karnataka government’s Cabinet Sub-committee on Covid-19 have advised people to wear masks, not send children with symptoms to schools, adhere to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour like social distancing, seven days home isolation and leave for infected patients.

It has also decided to administer “precautionary vaccine” for the aged and those with comorbidities and to get 30,000 doses of Corbevax vaccine from the Union government for this purpose.

Also Read: WHO classifies JN.1 variant of Covid-19 as ‘Variant of Interest’

Eight new cases in Telangana

Hyderabad reported eight new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday and no fresh infections were reported in other districts of Telangana. The total number of cases under treatment/isolation stood at 59, a Health Department bulletin said.

A total of 1,333 samples were tested on Tuesday and reports were pending for 30, it said.

Telangana recorded ten new Covid-19 cases on Monday with nine new infections reported from Hyderabad and one case was from Karimnagar.

No fresh fatalities due to the virus were reported on Tuesday, it said. The case fatality rate was 0.49 percent and the recovery rate was 99.51 percent.

Meanwhile, the authorities at the state-run Osmania General Hospital (OGH) here on Tuesday denied reports in a section of media that one patient died at the hospital because of Covid-19.

This patient died on 24 December because of severe heart failure and not because of Covid, a release from OGH said.

“There is a news being run in the media saying that a patient has died in Osmania General Hospital because of Covid-19, which is not correct. The patient, a 60-year-old male, was admitted in our acute medical care with medical emergency of acute onset of COPD with severe left ventricle dysfunction (Heart failure) and type 2 respiratory failure,” it said.

“A coincidental test for Covid was positive,” the release said.

At present, three patients are admitted in the isolation ward at the OGH with different medical emergencies and found to be Covid-19 positive, it said adding all the three patients are stable.

Also read: Why are genome sequencing, constant monitoring still important?

Cases in the country

India saw a single-day rise of 529 Covid-19 infections, while the active cases have decreased to 3,093 as around 603 people recovered from the Covid-19, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll was recorded at 5,33,340 with three new deaths — two from Karnataka, one from Gujarat — reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am, stated.

The country’s Covid-19 case tally stood at 4,50,10,189. The number of people who recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,44,72,756, and the national recovery rate stands at 98.81 percent, according to the health ministry’s website. The fatality rate stands at 1.18 percent.

The ministry’s website stated that 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far.

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(With PTI inputs)