Kerala recorded 1,547 new COVID-19 cases and 2,129 recoveries on Wednesday.
Of the new cases, 1,419 contracted the disease through contact. Among them, the source of infection of 156 is yet to be traced.
Twenty-one of the newly infected came from abroad while 65 came from other states.
Thirty-six health workers too contracted the virus. They include 16 from Thiruvananthapuram, 5 from Malappuram, 3 each from Ernakulam and Kannur, 2 each from Kollam, Alappuzha and Thrissur, and 1 each from Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kasaragod districts.
With seven more deaths being recorded on Wednesday, the official death toll in the state rose to 305.
The state has reported 78,010 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 55,782 persons recovered. The remaining 21,923 patients are being treated in various hospitals.
Here's the break-up of today's positive cases:
Thiruvananthapuram - 228 (contact cases - 211)
Kozhikode - 204 (196)
Alappuzha - 159 (131)
Malappuram - 146 (134)
Kottayam - 145 (143)
Kannur - 142 (121)
Ernakulam - 136 (122)
Thrissur - 121 (116)
Kasaragod - 88 (85)
Kollam - 81 (77)
Wayanad - 38 (31)
Palakkad - 30 (24)
Pathanamthitta - 17 (16)
Idukki - 12 (12)
Here's the break-up of today's recoveries:
Thiruvananthapuram - 402
Kollam - 85
Pathanamthitta - 112
Alappuzha - 288
Kottayam - 69
Idukki - 42
Ernakulam - 119
Thrissur - 100
Palakkad - 98
Malappuram - 317
Kozhikode - 194
Wayanad - 26
Kannur - 127
Kasaragod – 150
Deaths
The test results of Aboobacker, 60, from Manjeswaram in Kasaragod who died on August 28; Omanakuttan, 63, from Kalaykode in Thiruvananthapuram, Silvamma, 80, from Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram, Nabeesa (75) from Perumbavoor in Ernakulam who died on August 26; Baby George, 60, from Kothamangalam in Ernakulam who died on August 24; Sadanandan, 57, from Aluva in Ernakulam who died on August 17; and Balachandran Nair, 63, from Sreekaryam in Thiruvananthapuram who died on August 31, returned positive on Wednesday. More deaths were reported in the state, but the State is yet to ascertain if they are COVID deaths. Testing is underway at the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha.
Low numbers
The fresh COVID cases reported in state in the past three days have been much lower than the usual rate. According to sources, this is due to the low number of testing during the Onam holidays. While 30,000 to 40,000 samples are sent for testing on regular days, on Sunday and Monday, the samples being tested were less than 20,000.
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 on August 14. On August 25, the numbers soared past 60K. In the next four days, 10,000 more cases were reported and the the tally crossed 70K on Saturday, August 29.
Testing and quarantine
There are currently 1,93,736 under observation across the state. Of them, 1,75,382 are under home/institutional quarantine while 18,354 are in hospitals. 1,439 were admitted in hospitals on Wednesday.
In the last 24 hours, 23,850 samples were tested. With this, 17,24,658 samples have been tested so far. In addition, 1,79,862 samples were tested as part of Sentinel Surveillance from priority groups.
The State has designated 13 new regions as hotspots while 17 were excluded from the list on Wednesday.
There are currently 577 hotspots in the state.
