Thiruvananthapuram: 722 people tested positive for coronavirus and 228 patients were cured of the deadly disease in Kerala on Thursday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed during his press conference at Thiruvananthapuram.

Of the positive cases today, 481 had contracted the disease through contact. While 157 came from abroad, 62 came from other states. Among this, there are 34 cases without any known source of infection.

With this, Kerala now has 10,275 total cases reported from the state. It is also the first time more than 700 cases are being recorded.

Those infected on Thursday also include 12 healthcare workers, five BSF and three ITBP personnel.

District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:

Thiruvananthapuram – 339 ( infected through contact: 317)

Ernakulam – 57 ( infected through contact: 50)

Kollam – 42 ( infected through contact: 24)

Malappuram – 42 ( infected through contact: 6)

Pathanamthitta – 39 ( infected through contact: 20)

Kozhikode – 33 ( infected through contact: 8)

Thrissur – 32 ( infected through contact: 8)

Idukki – 26 ( infected through contact: 13)

Palakkad – 25 ( infected through contact: 2)

Kannur – 23 ( infected through contact: 8)

Alappuzha – 20 ( infected through contact: 7)

Kasaragod – 18 ( infected through contact: 11)

Kottayam – 13 ( infected through contact: 7)

Wayanad - 13

District-wise breakup of patient's cured:

Palakkad – 72

Malappuram – 37

Kasaragod – 23

Pathanamthitta – 18

Kollam – 17

Alappuzha – 13

Kozhikode – 10

Thrissur – 8

Kannur – 8

Kottayam – 7

Ernakulam – 7

Idukki – 6

Wayanad – 1

Thiruvananthapuram – 1

COVID deaths

Kerala reported two more COVID-19 deaths on Thursday.

Mohammad Saleek, 25, in Kannur district and B Aneesh in Thrissur district succumbed to coronavirus.

Saleek had arrived in Kerala from Ahmedabad in Gujarat on May 25. He was tested COVID positive after his death. Aneesh had returned to Kerala from Chennai.

Meanwhile, a man who was under COVID-19 observation in Pethotti of Idukki district was found dead on Thursday morning. Pandyan, 72, was placed under observation after arriving from Tamil Nadu.

In Pandyan's case, the health department is awaiting further tests results to confirm the cause of death.

Key points from CM's speech:

• There 84 COVID clusters in the state. Of this, 10 are large community clusters.

• 301 people in Thiruvananthapuram contracted the disease through contact. Among them, source of infection of 16 people are unknown.

• 17 staff members of Ramachandra hyper market, a shop in Thiruvananthapuram, has tested coronavirus positive. All those who visited the shop are advised to get in touch with the health department.

• Kollam district administration have banned transportation of seafoods from other states following many fish vendors found to be infected by the coronavirus. The Collector also banned all kind of door-to-door selling in the district.

• Checking at Kollam district borders have also been intensified to check movement of guest workers.

• In every district, special quarantine centres will be arranged for police personnel.

• People must take utmost precaution and strictly follow social distancing norms to stop the spread of the disease.

• Everyone has to assume that the virus has spread to all places and take necessary precautions accordingly.

• 'Break the Chain' initiatives, washing hands and use of mask must be followed without fail.

• People should avoid gatherings. Sanitizers should be made available in public places.

• Government is trying to increase the number of tests. For this, the government will seek the help of private labs also. New testing centres will be opened.

Testing and quarantine

In last 24 hours, 16,052 samples sent for testing. Till date, 2,68,128 samples sent for testing, out of which results of 7,797 samples are pending.

Apart from this, 85,767 samples were collected as part of the sentinal surveillance. Of this, 81,543 returned negative.

Out of the 1,83,900 people under quarantine, 5,432 are in hospitals. On Wednesday alone, 804 people admitted in various hospitals in the state.

Thirty-five new hotspots were announced today while five places were exempted from the list. Overall, there are 271 hotspots in Kerala now.

Collectors on alert

As Kerala is likely to witness a further spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases by next month, district collectors have been urged to be ready to deal with any eventuality. Accordingly, the first-line treatment centres for the disease in each panchayat would be equipped to ensure a capacity of 100 beds. All government officials in Kerala will also be given training as the state battles the coronavirus spread.

The list of officials is being prepared by the health department and panchayat.

Pregnant women, mothers of children aged below five and those suffering from critical illnesses have been exempted from the training. The government took the precautionary step to ensure there would not be any glitch in the preventive measures if the state reaches the stage of community transmission of the disease.