Kerala recorded 160 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday while 202 people have been cured from the infection, the highest single day recovery so far.
This is the fourteenth day in a row that the state is reporting more than 100 cases.
Among the new cases, 106 infected persons came from abroad (UAE-27, Kuwait-21, Oman-21, Qatar-16, Saudi Arabia-15, Bahrain-4, Maldova-1, Ivory Coast-1) while 40 returned home from other states (Delhi-13, Maharashtra-10, Tamil Nadu-8, Karnataka-6, Punjab-1, Gujarat-1, West Bengal-1).
Fourteen contracted the disease through contact: five in Alappuzha, four each in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam, one in Kottayam.
The state has reported 4,753 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 2,638 persons have recovered. The remaining 2,088 patients are being treated in various hospitals.
The higher number of recoveries were due to the state's decision to do away with discharge norm, which earlier mandated two back-to-back negative results in 24 hours.
From now on, patients will be discharged even if the first follow-up test is negative.
Here's the district-wise break-up of today's cases:
Pathanamthitta - 27
Malappuram - 24
Palakkad - 18
Alappuzha - 16
Thiruvananthapuram - 9
Kollam - 9
Kottayam - 9
Ernakulam - 9
Thrissur - 9
Kannur - 9
Idukki - 8
Kozhikode - 7
Kasaragod - 5
Wayanad - 1
District-wise break-up of today's recoveries:
Malappuram - 57 (Palakkad - 1)
Palakkad - 53
kasaragod - 23
Thiruvananthapuram - 15
Kannur - 14 (Kasaragod - 8)
Idukki - 12
Ernakulam - 11 (Alappuzha - 1)
Thrissur - 8
Alappuzha - 7
Kottayam – 1
All the 24 cases reported in Malappuram are imported ones. While 22 of them are returnees from abroad two came back from other states. All the 27 cases in Pathanamthitta are also imported ones.
Of the 18 cases in Palakkad, 12 are returnees from abroad and six from other states. The patients include two kids aged four and one. The four-year-old boy is the son of a Kongad native pregnant woman who had tested positive recently. They returned from Qatar. The one-year-old boy came back from Riyadh.
Nine more cases were confirmed in Kottayam. Three of them are returnees from abroad and five from other states. One contracted the disease through contact. The 36-year-old woman of Chirakkadavu was in the primary contact list of her colleague at a private hospital in Ponkunnam who tested positive on June 26.
Kottayam seems to have reported a COVID relapse case. A 27-year-old woman of Payippad who returned from Sharjah on June 19 tested positive. She had tested positive in the Gulf country on May 10 and underwent treatment there. She flew back to Kerala after she tested negative on June 3.
Of the nine cases in Ernakulam, four contracted the disease through contact. They include two West Bengal natives, aged 39 and 20, and a 38-year-old Tamil Nadu native who worked at the shop of a Thoppumpady native,66, who tested positive on July 1. A 13-year-old girl of Edakkattuvayal contracted the virus from a who relative tested positive on June 25.
Idukki reported eight more cases – three from abroad and five from other states. The patients include three of a family at Karinkunnam who returned from Delhi by train on June 29.
Kozhikode – Six from the Gulf and one from Gujarat
Thrissur – Six from abroad and three from other states
Kasaragod – Four from abroad and one from Bengaluru
Wayanad – One from Kuwait (hospitalised in Thiruvananthapuram)
A total of 1,78,099 people are under observation in various districts. Of these, 1,75,111 are under home-quarantine and 2,988 are in hospitals. On Thursday, 403 people were admitted in hospitals.
So far, 2,46,799 samples (including the augmented sample) have been sent for testing. Of these, 242,021 samples tested yielded negative results.
In addition, as part of Sentinel Surveillance, 52,316 samples were collected from priority groups, such as health workers, guest workers, social contacts. Of them, 50,002 have returned negative.
Three more regions have been converted into hot spots.
The new hot spots are Panoor (Containment Zone wards 3, 26, 31) in Kannur district, Kozhikode Corporation (56, 62, 66) and Olavanna (9) in Kozhikode.
Padiyoor (all wards), Keezhalloor (4) in Kannur district and Anakkara (13) in Palakkad have been excluded from the the list of hotspots.
There are currently 123 hotspots in the state.