Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 9 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that 16,204 people tested Covid positive out of 1,15,022 samples sent for testing in the past 24 hours, showing the state's test positivity rate (TPR) was still at a high 14.09 per cent.

A statement issued here by Vijayan said there were 1,39,064 active cases on Wednesday, while 20,237 people turned negative, taking the total number of cured people in the state to 25,24,248.

Another 156 deaths were recorded, taking the total death tally to 10,437.

Across the state, 5,92,079 people were under observation at various places, including 32,396 people at hospitals.

There are 889 hotspots in the state.

Vijayan, who regularly used to brief the media, has not appeared for his customary Covid related press meets for a while now, which, at one point, turned out to be one of the most viewed programmes. New Health Minister Veena George is also remaining behind the scenes as the government does not appear keen to expose her to the media.

A look into the statistics on the same day last year in the state show that 91 new cases were reported and the total active cases stood at a mere 383.