THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Wednesday said the state has come out with an Augmented Testing Strategy under which 3.75 lakh people would be tested in the next two days to identify the specific areas and categories of people continuously affected by coronavirus.
The minister, in a release, said that 1.25 lakh people would be tested on Thursday and 2.5 lakh on Friday and the analysis of the results would further help strengthen the fight against COVID-19.
She further said that allthose with influenza like symptoms, severe respiratory infections, diabetes and hypertension, those under 45 years of age who interact with crowds, those over 45 years of age who have not been vaccinated and those who come into contact with COVID-19 sufferers, would be screened under the new testing strategy.
Those who test positive would be isolated according to the protocols already in place, she said and added that those who have already recovered from the disease would be excluded from thetest.
The minister also said that in addition to the existing testing centres and mobile labs, testing camps will also be organised.
The state on Wednesday recorded 15,637 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the infection caseload to 31,03,310, while 128 deaths took the toll to 14,938.
As many as 12,974 people have been cured,taking the total recoveries to29,70,175 and the number of activecasesin the state to 1,17,708, a state government release said.
Malappuram accounted for the highest number of cases (2030), Kozhikode (2022), Ernakulam (1894),Thrissur (1704), Kollam (1154), Thiruvananthapuram (1133) andPalakkad (1111).
Of the newcases, 66 are health workers, 57 had come from outside the state and 14,717 were infected through contact, with the source of contact being not clear in 797 cases, the release said.
In the last 24 hours, 1,55,882 samples were tested, taking the total number so far to 2,48,04,801.
The Test Positivity Rate (TPR) stood at 10.03 per cent.
There are currently 3,92,170 people under surveillance in various districts of the state.
Of these, 3,67,560 are in home or institutional quarantine and 24,610 in hospitals.