Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 6 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan used to highlight the steps taken by his government to fight the Covid pandemic but there seems to be no sign of a lower daily tally in the state as 14,373 turned positive on Tuesday.

Incidentally for the past 10 days, Kerala's share in the daily positive cases in the country was above 23 per cent.

On Tuesday, Vijayan, who is releasing statements instead of addressing press conferences, said 14,373 turned positive after 1,31,820 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.

Across the state, there were 1,04,105 active cases, which is also high, when compared to the national figures.

The day also saw 10,751 people turn negative in the state, taking the total cured to 28,77,557, while the death toll reached 13,960, after 142 more Covid deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, at a special meeting called by Vijayan to discuss the Covid situation on Tuesday, it was decided to re-classify the local bodies based on the test positivity rate (TPR) and all such local bodies with a TPR of less than 5 per cent will be A category, B will be those with a TPR of 5 to 10 per cent, C 10 to 15 per cent and D will be above 15 per cent.

All government offices in A and B will function normally, while those offices in C category will function with 50 per cent staff.

Meanwhile, the state Secretariat on Tuesday witnessed protests from various groups including traders, demanding that the government should be realistic to the needs of the trading community as they are under duress with shops having restricted opening times.

This, they said, has affected their livelihood and hence, steps should be taken to see that they are able to open their shops.