Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count rose to 71,701 on Saturday as 2,397 fresh cases were reported, while six more fatalities took the toll to 280, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed.

The state also registered 2,225 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

So far, 48,079 people recovered from the disease, while 23,277 patients are still under treatment in various hospitals across the state.

Local transmission of COVID-19 continues unabated as 2,137 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 197 are unknown, the chief minister said.

Apart from this, 63 healthcare workers (16 from Alappuzha, 11 from Malappuram, eight from Kannur, six each from Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, five from Kasaragod, two from Kozhikode, one each from Kollam, Thrissur, Palakkad) also contracted the virus.

Of the 2,397 new cases reported on Saturday, 68 people came from abroad, while 126 came from other states. Today's case count also includes three INHS employees from Ernakulam districts.

Six more deaths were confirmed on Saturday. The deceased have been identified as Vijayakumar, 55, from Udinoor in Kasaragod; Abdullah, 70 from Valadu in Wayanad; KM Shahul Hameed, 69, from Kozhikode; Iyathutti, 65, from Kottakkal in Malappuram; Ashiq, 39, from Kannur and Anish, 30 from Kollam.

District-wise break-up of today's positive cases:

Thiruvananthapuram – 408 (contact cases - 393)

Malappuram – 379 (350)

Kollam – 234 (213)

Thrissur – 225 (208)

Kasaragod – 198 (184)

Alappuzha – 175 (132)

Kozhikode – 152 (136)

Kottayam – 139 (134)

Ernakulam – 136 (114)

Palakkad – 133 (101)

Kannur – 95 (83)

Pathanamthitta – 75 (51)

Idukki – 27 (18)

Wayanad – 21 (20)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Thiruvananthapuram – 591

Malappuram – 372

Alappuzha – 236

Ernakulam – 148

Thrissur – 142

Kozhikode – 131

Kottayam – 120

Kollam – 104

Kannur – 94

Pathanamthitta – 89

Palakkad – 74

Idukki – 41

Wayanad – 38

Kasaragod – 45

August hits hard

From January 30, 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the state, 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 doubled to 40K in next 17 days on August 14. In next 11 days it crossed 61,000-mark and in four more days it rose to 71,701.

In August alone, the state registered 48,088 positive cases, which is the highest since the January. It amounts to 67 per cent of total cases reported so far.

The month also turned out to be the deadliest month for Kerala as 205 people lost their life to COVID-19 as on Aug 29. Apart from this, 61 others also died after contracting coronavirus. However, these deaths were excluded from the state government's official deaths as those were classified as 'non-COVID' deaths.

Testing and quarantine

In the last 24 hours, 34,988 samples have been tested. In total, 16,43,633 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing. As many as 1,77,356 samples collected as part of sentinel surveillance.

Of the 1,95,927 people under observation for suspected infection, 1,76,822 are home/institutional quarantined and 19,105 hospitalised. As many as 2363 people were hospitalised since Friday.

15 new places were designated as hotspots on Monday, while 25 LSGs were excluded from the list. The state presently has 589 hotspots.

Key points from CM's press meet:

• Highest number of cases 408 reported in Thiruvananthapuram

• The Onam festival has come up during a time of gloom and doom this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Onam is a festival of hope and prosperity. The land of King Mahabali promised equality and prosperity. We should strive to achieve this, the chief minister said.

• The government has been able to support and help the public in various ways this Onam season. Let's celebrate Onam by maintaining the COVID-19 protocol and restrictions.

• Individuals must refrain from visiting homes and shopping for Onam in groups.

• Shops must ensure that only limited number of people are allowed to enter their enterprise so that social distancing is maintained.

• Use online shopping and door delivery of items wherever possible.

• Shutters of the shops must remain open to ensure ample ventilation.

• Avoid trial while shopping clothes.

• Payments must be made via digital modes wherever possible.

• Ensure that hands are sanitised before and after entering shops. Shoppers must also ensure sanitation by washing of hands and personal hygiene on returning home.

• The CM also criticised the Centre's plan to cut the GST compensation to the states.

• Interpol's help will be sought to look into the Popular Finance scam, the CM said.

• The finance ministry wrote to state governments saying they could borrow either via a special window it will facilitate through the RBI or raise debt from the market.