Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 6,25,767 on Friday, with the state reporting 5,718 fresh cases. The state also registered 5,496 recoveries since Thursday.
In the last 24 hours, 57,456 samples have been tested. In total, 64,96,210 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing. The test positivity rate is 9.95.
So far, 5,61,874 people recovered from the disease, while 61,401 patients are still under treatment in various hospitals across the state, Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a statement.
Local transmission of COVID-19 continues unabated as 4,991 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 572 are unknown, the minister said.
Apart from this, 60 healthcare workers (Kannur - 13, Thiruvananthapuram - 8, Thrissur and Ernakulam - 7 each, Palakkad - 6, Pathanamthitta - 5, Malappuram - 4, Kozhikode - 3, Idukki, Wayanad and Kasaragod - 2 each and Kollam - 1) also contracted the virus.
The minister also confirmed 29 more deaths on Friday. The official death toll now stands at 2358.
District-wise break-up of today's positive cases:
Malappuram - 943 (contact cases - 903)
Kozhikode - 773 (735)
Kottayam - 570 (559)
Thrissur - 528 (512)
Ernakulam - 486 (359)
Palakkad - 447 (234)
Alappuzha - 394 (376)
Kollam - 318 (314)
Thiruvananthapuram - 279 (174)
Kannur - 275 (223)
Idukki - 216 (177)
Wayanad - 180 (172)
Pathanamthitta - 163 (115)
Kasaragod - 146 (138)
District-wise break-up of recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram - 451
Kollam - 662
Pathanamthitta - 130
Alappuzha - 548
Kottayam - 500
Idukki - 109
Ernakulam - 440
Thrissur - 377
Palakkad - 444
Malappuram - 796
Kozhikode - 554
Wayanad - 139
Kannur - 276
Kasaragod - 70
Of the 3,14,029 people under observation for suspected infection, 2,98,929 are home/institutional quarantined and 15,100 hospitalised. As many as 1,726 people were hospitalised since Thursday.
Six new places were designated as hotspots on Friday, while 38 regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 444 hotspots.
