52,310 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate was at 9.57 percent. So far 88,68,737 samples have been tested in the state.

4,408 recoveries were also recorded on this day. 4,506 people contracted the virus through contact.The source of 388 contact cases could not be traced. Sixty-eight of the coronavirus patients came from outside the state.

Twenty one deaths were confirmed in the last 24 hours taking the COVID death toll to 3,463.

With this, the number of active cases in the state reached 68,991.

The state has reported 8,47,848 COVID-19 infections so far. Of this, 7,75,176 were
cured.

The district-wise statistics of positive cases: Ernakulam – 767, Kozhikode – 677, Malappuram – 479, Kollam – 439, Pathanamthitta – 427, Kottayam – 399, Alappuzha – 302, Thiruvananthapuram – 296, Thrissur – 262, Kannur – 239, Idukki – 237, Wayanad – 226, Palakkad – 176 and Kasaragod – 79.

None of the UK returnees tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. So far, 56 UK returnees have tested positive for coronavirus. Among them 9 have been identified as mutant virus strain.

The district-wise statistics of contact cases: Ernakulam – 723, Kozhikode – 659, Malappuram – 457,Kollam – 430, Pathanamthitta – 377, Kottayam – 369, Alappuzha – 287, Thiruvananthapuram – 189,Thrissur – 249, Kannur – 185, Idukki – 227, Wayanad – 209, Palakkad – 76 and Kasaragod – 69.

Forty three health workers also tested positive. Among them, 10 were from Wayanad, 8 from Kannur, 5 each Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam, 4 each from Pathanamthitta and Thrissur, 3 from Kasaragod and 1 each from Palakkad, Kottayam, Malappuram and Idukki.

The district-wise statistics of recoveries: Thiruvananthapuram – 431, Kollam – 176, Pathanamthitta –437, Alappuzha – 512, Kottayam – 367, Idukki – 83, Ernakulam – 427, Thrissur – 433, Palakkad –221, Malappuram – 515, Kozhikode – 457, Wayanad – 179, Kannur – 118 and Kasaragod – 52.

There are 2,09,679 people under observation in the state. Out of this, 1,98,502 are under home/institutional quarantine and 11,177 people are in hospitals. 1,217 people were taken to hospitals on January 17.

Eight areas were declared hotspots on Sunday. Meanwhile, one area was removed from the hotspot list.With this, there are a total of 420 hotspots in the state.

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With a slowing economy and the Covid-19 pandemic , India is witnessing the weakest hiring sentiment in 15 years with just 3 per cent companies planning to add staff in the next three months , according to survey of over 800 employers .

The survey is done by Manpower Group Employment Outlook Survey. The survey covered 813 firms across India.
As per the survey , 7 percent of employers anticipate an increase in payrolls. However 3 percent predicts a decrease and 54 percent expect no change.

“Hiring sentiment is the weakest since the survey began 15 years ago, remaining relatively stable when compared with the previous quarter, but declining by 16 percentage points in comparison with this time one year ago,” the survey said.

The strongest hiring pace is recorded in the small-sized organisations followed by the medium-sized and large-sized firms. From a region perspective, north and east regions indicate a more positive outlook compared to the west and south, the survey said.

The companies are aligning themselves to the current market demands . Organisations are now looking at improving productivity, new forms of employee engagement and implementation of technology.

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The world’s third largest economy was already ailing when the virus outbreak struck towards the end of last year. The fallout has since gradually worsened both in COVID-19 cases and social distancing restrictions.

Japanese media reported that the latest drop was the worst since World War II. The previous worst contraction was in 2009, during the global financial crisis of 2008-09.

The economy shrank 0.6% in the January- March period, and contracted 1.8 % in the October- December period last year, indicating that Japan slipped into recession in the first quarter of this year. Recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

For the April-June period, Japan’s exports dropped at a whopping annual rate of 56%, while private consumption dipped at an annual rate of nearly 29%.

That was without any full shutdown of businesses to contain coronavirus outbreaks, which have worsened in the past month, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to over 56,000.

Analysts say the economy is expected to recover gradually, once the impacts of pandemic reduce. Japan’s export-dependent e

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