Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 1,26,381 on Friday, with the state reporting 4,167 fresh cases. The state also registered 2,744 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

So far, 90,089 people recovered from the disease, while 35,724 patients are still under treatment in various hospitals across the state, Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a statement.

Local transmission of COVID-19 continues unabated as 3,849 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 410 are unknown.

Apart from this, 102 healthcare workers also contracted the virus – 27 from Thiruvananthapuram, 22 from Kannur, nine from Malappuram, eight each from Kollam, Thrissur and Kasaragod, seven from Pathanamthitta, six from Kozhikode, five from Ernakulam, one each from Alappuzha. Three INHS employees from Ernakulam also tested positive on Friday.

Of the 4,167 cases reported today, 48 people came from abroad, while 165 came from other states.

With 12 more deaths, the official death toll now stands at 501.

The deceased have been identified as: Parvathy (75) from Thoppilkadu in Ernakulam who died on September 9; Prathapachandran (75) from Thirumala in Thiruvanathapuram; Margaret (68) from Kollam's Thankasseri; Ouseph (87) from Thrissur; Anjala (55) from Thoothukkudi; Zidali (58) from Palakkad; Rajan (53) from Balaramapuram in Thiruvananthapuram; Mercy (72) from Poonthura in Thiruvananthapuram who died on September 11; Safiya (79) from Kasaragod who died on September 13; Suhra (58) from Malappuram; Kunji Muhmad (85) from Malappuram who died on September 14; Abdurahman (68) from Malappuram who died on Sept 15.

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

Thiruvananthapuram – 926 (contact cases – 893)

Kozhikode – 404 (384)

Kollam – 355 (342)

Ernakulam – 348 (314)

Kannur – 330 (283)

Thrissur – 326 (312)

Malappuram – 297 (283)

Alappuzha – 274 (259)

Palakkad – 268 (228)

Kottayam – 225 (223)

Kasaragod – 145 (122)

Pathanamthitta – 101 (75)

Idukki – 100 (70)

Wayanad – 68 (61)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Thiruvananthapuram – 488

Kozhikode – 348

Kollam – 345

Malappuram – 265

Ernakulam – 221

Kannur – 169

Alappuzha – 146

Thrissur – 142

Pathanamthitta – 128

Palakkad – 118

Kottayam – 112

Kasragod – 110

Wayanad – 79

Idukki – 73

Testing and quarantine:

In the last 24 hours, 47,723 samples have been tested. In total, 23,36,217 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing. As many as 1,94,451 samples also collected as part of sentinel surveillance.

Of the 2,16,262 people under observation for suspected infection, 1,91,628 are home/institutional quarantined and 24,634 hospitalised. As many as 3,282 people were hospitalised since Thursday.

18 new places were designated as hotspots on Friday, while 12 LSGs were excluded from the list. The state presently has 614 hotspots.