Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 30 (IANS): With 6,282 new Covid cases on Saturday, it seems there is no respite from the pandemic in Kerala which had once flattened the curve during its initial stages, wining accolades across the globe with international media also praising the Kerala government and Health Minister K.K. Shailaja.

Exactly one year after the first Covid positive case in the country was identified in Kerala's Thrissur, the state government is groping in the dark over the increase in cases even though the health minister has been putting up a brave face.

The number of recoveries has touched 7,032 giving a glimmer of hope for health workers.

The state has tested 59,759 samples on Saturday, a far cry from the 1,00,000 daily samples which the state has been testing since long. Test positivity rate on Saturday was 10.51 per cent.

71,469 people are under treatment at various hospitals in the state, the highest number of Covid patients under treatment in the country while 18 deaths were reported on Saturday, taking the total death toll to 3,722.

2,17,434 people are under observation in various areas of the state. Of this 2,05,926 people are under home/institutional quarantine while 11,508 are under observation at various hospitals in the state.

There are four new hotspots in the state. The total hotspots in the state now stand at 396.