Kerala's COVID-19 tally crosses 50k-mark with record 2,333 new cases on Wednesday

Kerala's single-day COVID-19 case count crossed the 2,000-mark for the first time on Wednesday since the first case was reported on January 30, 2020. With this, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases from the state breached 50,000-mark.

In its evening update, the health ministry said that 2,333 new cases were reported in the state while 1,217 recovered from the disease.

Of the new cases, 2,151 contracted the disease through contact. Among them, the sources of infection of 53 are yet to be traced.

Sixty of the newly infected came from abroad while 98 came from other states. A total of 17 health workers (Thiruvananthapuram-7, Malappuram -5, Ernakulam-3, Kozhikode-1, Kannur-1) were tested COVID positive on Wednesday. Seven INHS personnel were also tested positive.

The state has reported 50,231 COVID-19 cases so far, of which 32,611 have recovered. The remaining 17,382 patients are being treated in various hospitals.

From when the first case was confirmed in the state on January 30, 2020, it took 168 days, or five-and-a-half months to reach the 10k-mark on July 16. However, it took only 12 more days to cross the 20,000 tally. The numbers soared past the 50k-mark in the next 22 days.

With seven more deaths being reported, the official toll has reached 182 in Kerala. The deceased have been identified as Bhargavi, 90, from Kalady in Thiruvananthapuram; Shamsudheen, 65, from Adoor in Pathanamthitta; Meenakshi, 85, from Aryanadu in Thiruvananthapuram; Rajan, 56, from Kulathupuzha in Kollam; Jameela, 53 from Aluva in Ernakulam; T V Mathai, 67, from Kothamangalam in Ernakulam and Thankappan, 64 from Kothadu in Ernakulam. The other deaths are yet to be confirmed from the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha.

District-wise break-up of today's recoveries:

Thiruvananathapuram 224
Kollam 41
Pathanamthitta 18
Alappuzha 65
Kottayam 54
Idukki 5
Ernakulam 101
Thrissur 28
Palakkad 103
Malappuram 263
Kozhikode 174
Wayanad 12
Kannur 48
Kasaragod 81

Out of the 1,69,687 people under observation, 1,55,928 are under home/institutional quarantine and 13,759 are in hospitals. A total of 1,730 individuals were admitted to hospitals on Wednesday alone.

The number of samples sent for COVID-19 testing have been increased substantially. In the past 24 hours 36,291 samples were sent for testing.

A total of 12,76,358 samples including routine samples, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAT TruNAT, CLIA and Antigen Assay, have been tested in the state so far. 1,53,433 samples were sent for testing as part of the sentinel surveillance.

On Wednesday, 19 more regions have been converted into hot spots while 12 were excluded from the list.

There are currently 572 hotspots in the state.