Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 3 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday called upon the people to be extremely cautious as the next two weeks will be crucial after the end of the Onam festivities.

"We have seen relaxations in every sphere on account of Onam and the coming two weeks will be crucial, as the after effects can be seen by way of 'Onam clusters'. Experts have informed that by the end of October more cases will be registered. But, contrary to expectations, Kerala was able to keep the figures down in the month of August as it was less than what was predicted by experts," Vijayan said and added that people should be extremely cautious.

He said on Thursday 1553 people tested Covid positive while 1950 people registered negative.

"At present there are 21,516 who are positive, while 57,732 were cured. Across the state there are 1,92,168 people in observation at various centres including 18,033 people in various hospitals. There are 569 hotspots in the state," said Vijayan.