Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 3,34,228 on Saturday, with the state reporting 9,016 fresh cases. The state also registered 7,991 recoveries in the last 24 hours. The test positivity rate is 17.32%.
So far, 96,004 people recovered from the disease, while 2,36,989 patients are still under treatment in various hospitals across the state, Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a statement.
Local transmission of COVID-19 continues unabated as 7,464 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 1,321 are unknown.
Apart from this, 104 healthcare workers (Kottayam - 23, Thrissur and Malappuram - 15 each, Kannur - 13, Kozhikode - 8, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Kasaragod - 6 each, Palakkad - 5, Kollam - 3, Wayanad - 2, Alappuzha and Ernakulam - 1 each) also contracted the virus.
The minister also confirmed 26 more deaths on Saturday. The official death toll now stands at 1,139.
District-wise break-up of today's positive cases:
Malappura - 1,519 (1,445 contact cases)
Thrissur - 1,109 (1,079)
Ernakulam - 1,022 (525)
Kozhikode - 926 (888)
Thiruvananthapuram - 848 (576)
Palakkad - 688 (383)
Kollam - 656 (651)
Alappuzha - 629 (604)
Kannur - 464 (328)
Kottayam - 411 (358)
Kasaragod - 280 (270)
Pathanamthitta - 203 (153)
Idukki -140 (87)
Wayanad - 121 (117)
District-wise break-up of recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram - 860
Kollam - 718
Pathanamthitta - 302
Alappuzha - 529
Kottayam - 217
Idukki - 63
Ernakulam - 941
Thrissur - 1,227
Palakkad - 343
malappuram - 513
Kozhikode - 1,057
Wayanad - 144
Kannur - 561
Kasaragod - 516
Testing and quarantine
In the last 24 hours, 52,067 samples have been tested, a health department statement said on Saturday.
In total, 38,80,795 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing.
Of the 2,76,900 people under observation for suspected infection, 2,51,935 are home/institutional quarantined and 24,965 hospitalised. As many as 2,971 people were hospitalised since Friday.
Eight new places were designated as hotspots on Saturday, while 18 regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 633 hotspots.
