Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on Friday recorded 32,801 new Covid cases after 1,70,703 samples was tested, taking the test positivity rate to 19.22 per cent, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement.

It also said that the number of active cases is closing towards two lakh, as the figure stood at 1,95,254, after another 18,573 people turned negative.

Friday also saw a high of 179 Covid deaths, taking the death toll to 20,313.

Malappuram saw 4,032 new cases, followed by Thrissur with 3,953.

In a related development, around 100 new Covid cases were reported from among the employees of the Kerala Assembly Secretariat and there was a demand that the regular assembly committee meetings should be postponed.

Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, who has taken on Chief Minister Vijayan for not appearing before the media to inform what is the reason for this massive spread, shot back after Vijayan came out with an article in a CPI-M party publication.

"Why is he not coming before the people and instead of saying it to the people directly... it was improper on his part to come out with an article about Covid in his party publication," he said.

Kerala accounts for as high as 62 per cent of daily new cases recorded in the country.