Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 3 (IANS): Kerala recorded 32,097 new Covid cases on Thursday, the third day in succession that it saw a daily tally of over 30,000.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a statement, said 32,097 people turned positive after 1,74,307 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and the daily test positivity rate was 18.41 per cent. There were another 188 Covid deaths, taking the death toll to 21,149.

The day also saw 21,634 people turn negative. taking the total active cases in the state to 2,40,186.

Thrissur district recorded 4,334 cases followed by Ernakulam with 3,768.

Even though the daily number of new cases in Kerala now accounts for more than 65 per cent cases in the country, a panel of national and international health experts felt that it is time that schools can be reopened and state Education Minister V.Sivankutty said this will be looked into by a committee which will look into all aspects and submit its report.