In the highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases in Kerala, 84 people tested positive on Thursday. With this, the number of confirmed cases in the state rose to 1,088. Of these, 526 are active cases undergoing treatment in various districts.
All, except five of, those who tested positive on Thursday, came from outside the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
Of the new cases, 31 are returnees from abroad and 48 came back from other states (Maharashtra - 31, Tamil Nadu - 9, Karnataka - 3, Gujarat - 2, Delhi - 2, Andhra - 1). Five were infected through contacts.
One more death has been recorded in Kerala. It was a 68-year-old migrant worker who was bound for Telengana from Rajasthan but accidentally ended up in Thiruvananthapuram. They arrived on May 22, in the Jaipur-Thiruvananthapuram special train.
He had his family were in isolation at Institute of Cooperative Management at Poojappura. The man was shifted to the General Hospital when he showed symptoms. It is not clear whether he had co-morbidities.
The number of deaths in Kerala is seven but Pinarayi said the death rate is 0.5 per cent. The national death rate is 2.8 per cent.
District-wise split-up of the new cases are as follows:
Kasaragod - 18
Palakkad - 16
Kannur - 10
Malappuram - 8
Thiruvananthapuram - 7
Thrissur - 7
Kozhikode - 6
Pathanamthitta - 6
Kottayam - 3
Kollam, Idukki, Alappuzha - 1 each
Three patients tested negative -- one each from Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur.
Of the 1,15,297 people under observation for suspected infection, 1,14,305 are home/institutional quarantined and 992 hospitalised. As many as 210 people were hospitalised on Friday, most from Malappuram (36).
Of the 60,685 samples sent for tests, 58,460 have turned negative. Samples of 9,937 people among priority groups were tested as part of sentinel surveillance. Of them, 9,217 have turned negative.
There are 82 hotspots in the state. Six were added to the list on Thursday -- three panchayats in Kasaragod, two in Palakkad and Chanaganassery municipality in Kottayam.
Palakkad has the most number of active cases -- 105. Kannur has 93 cases, Kasaragod 63 and Malappuram 52.
