Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 20 : There appears no sign of Covid cases in Kerala slowing down as on Friday, 20,224 people turned positive after 1,19,385 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, and the test positivity rate climbed to 16.94 per cent. A statement issued here by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said that 17,142 people turned negative, taking the total number of active cases to 1,82,285. On Friday, there was a decline in the daily Covid deaths, with 99 succumbing, taking the death toll to 19,345. The three-day Onam festivities began on Friday and a peep into the Covid scenario during Onam 2020 showed that this day then had 2,543 positive cases and 2,097 recoveries, while there were 23,111 active cases. Compared to then, the scene this Onam is pretty bad and for several days, Kerala has reported over 50 per cent of the daily new Covid positive cases in the country. /IANS