Kerala recorded 5,281 new COVID-19 cases and 5,692 recoveries on Thursday.
The new infections were detected after testing 71,656 samples, taking the test positivity rate to 7.37 in the state.
Of the new cases, 4,783 had contracted the virus through contact while 106 had come from outside the state. Among the contact cases, the source of infection of 360 is yet to be traced.
With this, the number of active cases in the state reached 63,915.
The state has reported 988,655 COVID-19 infections so far. Of this, 9,20,539 made recovery.
Sixteen deaths too were recorded due to COVID-19 on Thursday. With this, COVID death toll rose to 3,936.
Though more deaths were reported, the state is yet to ascertain them as COVID deaths. Tests are underway at the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha.
Thirty-two health workers too contracted the virus on the day. They include 9 in Kannur, 5 in Ernakulam, 3 each in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, and Kozhikode, 2 each in Malappuram, Wayanad, and Kasaragod, 1 each in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Thrissur.
Here's the break-up of today's positive cases:
Pathanamthitta – 694 (Contact cases– 645)
Ernakulam – 632 (575)
Kozhikode – 614 (596)
Kollam – 579 (570)
Malappuram – 413 (384)
Kottayam – 383 (348)
Thrissur – 375 (372)
Alappuzha – 342 (335)
Thiruvananthapuram – 293 (196)
Kannur – 251 (198)
Palakkad – 227 (125)
Idukki – 196 (183)
Wayanad – 180 (165)
Kasaragod – 102 (91)
Recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram – 400
Kollam – 306
Pathanamthitta – 452
Alappuzha – 423
Kottayam – 502
Ernakulam – 669
Idukki – 481
Thrissur – 373
Palakkad – 142
Malappuram – 589
Kozhikode – 666
Wayanad – 308
Kannur – 332
Kasaragod – 49
Testing and quarantine
Till Thursday, 1,03,65,859 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing.
A total of 2,36,185 people are under observation across the state. Of them, 2,25,803 are under home or institutional quarantine while 10,382 are in hospital. A total of 1,128 were admitted in hospitals on Thursday.
Three regions have been designated as hotspots while seven were removed from the list. The total number of hotspots is at 455 in the state now.
