Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 26 (IANS): Kerala on Thursday saw 30,007 people turn Covid positive after 1,66,397 samples were tested and the test positivity rate for the day was 18.03 per cent, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijjayan said.

In a statement issued here, Vijayan also said 18,997 people turned negative, taking the total active cases to 1,81,209.

Another 162 deaths were reported, taking the death toll to 20,134.

Ernakulam district accounted for 3,872 cases, followed by Kozhikode with 3,461 and Trissur and 3,157.

Health Minister Veena George said that a study by her department revealed that 35 per cent of the spread is taking place at homes and the need of the hour is those who turn positive but do not have facilities for home quarantine should approach the government facilities.

Meanwhile, with Kerala continuing to hog the national and international headlines from being the first state in the country to tackle Covid effectively last year to now record as high as 65 per cent of the daily new cases, the highest number of active cases besides the highest deaths, the top opposition leaders have started slamming Vijayan.

Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said Vijayan, for more than a year, was live on TV on a daily basis explaining the care and concern of his government, but has gone missing now.

"The Central team which visited the state has come out with grave errors that the state government did, especially in the way the home quarantine was carried out. The state government should pull up their socks and do everything they can to fight Covid spread. But sadly the Vijayan government is busy organising the centenary celebrations of the Moplah rebellion," he said.

Former Leader of Opposition and veteran Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala said Vijayan should now apologise to the people of Kerala and take the full responsibility of what is happening in the Covid front.