Thiruvananthapuram: 3,349 people tested positive for coronavirus and 1,657 patients were cured of COVID-19 in Kerala on Thursday, the Health department informed in a press statement.

Of the new cases, 3,058 contracted the disease through contact. The source of infection of 266 among them is unknown.

As many as 50 infected persons came from abroad while 165 came from other states.

This is the third consecutive day that the state is reporting more than 3,000 cases.

The state has reported 99,266 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 72,578 persons recovered. The remaining 26,229 patients are being treated in various hospitals.

Seventy-two health workers also tested positive in the state on Thursday – 18 from Kannur, 13 from Thrissur, 12 from Thiruvananthapuram, 11 from Ernakulam, nine from Kollam, three from Malappuram, two from Pathanamthitta, one each from Alappuzha, Wayanad, Palakkad and Kasaragod.

District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:

Thiruvananthapuram - 558 (contact cases: 542)

Kollam -244 (232)

Pathanamthitta -135 (101)

Idukki - 105 (66)

Kottayam - 217 (210)

Alappuzha - 267 (240)

Ernakulam - 227 (207)

Thrissur - 300 (278)

Palakkad -194 (152)

Malappuram - 330 (309)

Kozhikode - 261 (252)

Kannur - 276 (243)

Kasaragod - 140 (137)

Wayanad - 95 (89)

District-wise breakup of recoveries:

Thiruvananthapuram – 483

Kollam – 103

Pathanamthitta – 53

Idukki – 15

Kottayam – 106

Alappuzha – 87

Ernakulam – 116

Thrissur – 83

Palakkad -33

Malappuram – 119

Kozhikode – 178

Kannur – 144

Kasaragod – 127

Wayanad – 10

COVID deaths

Kerala reported 12 more COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, taking the official death toll to 396.

The deceased have been identified as Baby (65) and Rajendran Nair (58) from Thiruvananthapuram district; Kunjipathu (69), Ummerkutty (62), Saydalikutty (85), Chinna (58), Mohammad Ashraf (63), Saleena (38) and Nabeesa (62) from Malappuram district, Sarasamma (68) from Alappuzha district, Benny Chakku (47) from Thrissur district and Mattummal Kunjabdullah (57) from Kasaragod district were the deceased. Further deaths will be confirmed after subsequent tests at NIV, Alappuzha.

Testing and quarantine

There are 2,04,376 people under observation across the state. Of them, 1,84,128 are under home/institutional quarantine while 20,248 are in hospitals. 2,691 were admitted in hospitals on Thursday.

So far, 20,18,921 samples were tested in the state. A total of 40,014 samples were tested in 24 hours. In addition, as part of Sentinel Surveillance, 1,86,612 more samples were tested from priority groups.

Thirty-three new regions were designated as hotspots in the state while 9 regions have been excluded from the list. There are currently 594 hotspots in the state.