Thiruvananthapuram, May 28 (IANS): Kerala on Friday saw its Covid test positivity rate witness a further drop to 16.40 per cent down from the nearly 30 per cent early this month.

A statement issued by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that another 22,318 turned Covid positive after 1,36,068 samples were sent for testing, taking the total active cases in the state to 2,37,819.

"(As many as) 26,270 people turned negative, taking the total cured in the state to 22,24,405. But the number of Covid deaths rose to 194, taking the total death tally to 8,257," it said.

Across the state, there were 8,57,227 people under observation at various places which included 39,110 in hospitals. There were 880 hotspots in the state.

All eyes are now on the meeting that Vijayan will chair with the high-level committee on Saturday on if it will decide to lift the state wide lockdown, which presently ends on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheeshan asked the Vijayan government to explain the media reports that with regards to the actual number of Covid deaths, as a section of the doctors have said that there are errors in the figures.

"It has come to notice that a Covid positive person who dies following a heart attack is classified in the non-Covid category, likewise a person who dies due to post-Covid complications is also listed elsewhere . Now that the state government has announced a special package for children whose parents die due to Covid and if this is going to be the classification, it will cause serious disparity. The government has to come clean on this," he said.