Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 23 (IANS): With opposition protests mounting, the biggest victims are the police officials as they are increasingly falling prey to Covid while on duty, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday.

Addressing the media here, Vijayan said all responsible political parties have to take cognisance of the fact that police officials are also human beings.

"There is nothing more valuable than human life. Due to the increased protests, police officials have to do their duty and due to these protests, more police officials are turning Covid positive. It appears that only if protests turn violent, do they get noticed by the media. There is no need for any violence during protests as there are many forms of protests that can be undertaken. It's time all should do an introspection on this, as 101 police officials across the state tested Covid positive the other day," he said.

Vijayan also noted that Thiruvananthapuram district is the worst-affected, reporting 681 out of the 4,125 new cases on Tuesday.

He said that 3,007 people turned negative in the day and the state presently has 40,382 active cases, while 1,01,731 people have been cured so far.

A total of 38,574 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.

Kerala also saw 19 more deaths, taking its toll to 572. Around a third of the deaths have been reported in Thiruvananthapuram.

Across the state, there were 2,20,270 people who are under observation in various places, including 25,782 in hospitals, while the state has 639 hotspots.