Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala reported the highest single-day COVID-19 case count with 6,477 cases on Friday while 3,481 people recovered from the deadly disease, the health department informed in a press statement.

This is the second consecutive day that the state is reporting more than 6,000 cases in a day. On Thursday, Kerala had reported 6,324 COVID-19 cases.

Twenty-two people died on Friday taking the state's death toll to 635.

As many as 58 infected persons came from abroad while 198 came from other states.

The state has reported 1,60,933 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 1,11,331 persons recovered. The remaining 48,892 patients are being treated in various hospitals.

Eighty health workers also tested positive in the state on Friday – 19 from Kannur, 14 from Thiruvananthapuram, nine from Ernakulam, six each from Kollam, Kasaragod, Thrissur and Pathanamthitta, five from Palakkad, three each from Alappuzha, Malappuram and Kozhikode.

According to data till Friday morning, at 3.67%, Kerala has the highest percentage increase in cases in India.

District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:

Thiruvananthapuram - 814 (contact cases – 794)

Malappuram - 784 (753)

Kozhikode - 690 (676)

Ernakulam - 655 (619)

Thrissur - 607 (596)

Kollam - 569 (552)

Alappuzha - 551 (516)

Kannur - 419 (353)

Palakkad - 419 (396)

Kottayam - 322 (320)

Kasaragod - 268 (251)

Pathanamthitta - 191 (143)

Idukki - 114 (97)

Wayanad - 74 (65)

District-wise breakup of recoveries:

Thiruvananthapuram – 411

Kollam – 207

Pathanamthitta – 120

Alappuzha – 218

Kottayam – 193

Idukki – 69

Ernakulam – 325

Thrissur – 252

Palakkad – 223

Malappuram – 588

Kozhikode – 472

Wayanad – 79

Kannur – 217

Kasaragod – 107

Testing and quarantine

A total of 2,15,691 people are under observation in various districts. Of these, 1,88,265 are under home or institutional quarantine and 27,426 are in hospitals.

3,410 people were admitted in hospitals on Friday alone.

In the last 24 hours 56,057 samples were tested which is the highest number of tests in the state so far.

So far, 26,57,430 samples (including the augmented sample) have been sent for testing.

In addition, as part of Sentinel Surveillance, 2,00,420 samples were collected from priority groups, such as health workers, guest workers, social contacts.

On Friday, 12 more regions have been converted into hotspots and 14 have been excluded from the list taking the total number of hotspots to 652 in the state.

COVID deaths

Twenty-two deaths were confirmed in Kerala on Friday.

They deceased are George (69) from Vazhathoppu in Kollam who died on September 3, Karunakaran (85) from Kirikadu in Alappuzha who died on September 10, Jacob George (82) from Thazhathangadi in Kottayam who died on September 11, AN Mukundan (57) from Alappuzha, Jasmine Zakir (39) from Adikattukulangara in Alappuzha who died on September 14, Sadasivan (90) from Kollam who died on September 18, Cletus (82) from Alappuzha, Mohammad Suneer (45) from Vadoorkara in Thrissur who died on September 19, Akbar Pasha (40) from Kozhikode, Zainuddin (58) from Malappuram who died on September 20, Rajesh (45) from Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram who died on September 21, Akash (18) from Vaikom in Kottayam, PP Davis (55) from Kunnamkulam in Thrissur, Delbin (50) from Pathanamthitta who died on September 22, Kalamani (58) from Kannammula in Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayan (59) from Karamana in Thiruvananthapuram, Chandrasekharan (90) from Thrissur, Manoj Stephen Thomas (57) from Kottayam, Vavakunju (68) from Chadayamangalam who died on September 23, Thomas Cornelius (60) from Vellarada in Thiruvananthapuram, Padmavathi (67) from Anayara in Thiruvananthapuram who died on September 24, and CJ Joseph (65) from Panachikadu in Kottayam.

With this, COVID death toll in the state rises to 635. More deaths were reported but the State is yet to ascertain if they are COVID deaths. Tests are underway at National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha.