Thiruvananthapuram: With a spike of 8,135 cases, Kerala's COVID-19 tally breached the two lakh mark on Thursday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed during his press conference at Thiruvananthapuram.

With 29 deaths, the highest so far in a day, the state's death toll has risen to 771.As many as 2,828 people recovered from the deadly disease on Thursday.

Of the new cases, 7,013 contracted the disease through contact. The source of infection of 730 among them is unknown. As many as 67 infected persons came from abroad while 218 came from other states.

The state has reported 2,04,241 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 1,31,052 persons recovered. The remaining 72,339 patients are currently undergoing treatment.

105 health workers also tested positive in the state on Thursday – 29 from Thiruvananthapuram, 26 from Kannur, 16 from Ernakulam, eight from Kottayam, six from Kasaragod, five each from Pathanamthitta, Kozhikode and Wayanad, two from Malappuram, one each from Kollam, Alappuzha and Palakkad.

Kerala has more than doubled its coronavirus case tally in one month, adding 1,20,721 cases of COVID-19 and 448 deaths in September alone. This means that in September, Kerala recorded almost double the number of cases it had cumulatively registered till August 31. In the last week alone, the state recorded over 40,000 new cases, hitting new highs almost every day.

Key points from CM's press meet:

• To address the unemployment situation in the state, the government is planning to create 50,000 jobs in the agricultural sector in a span of 100 days. Five jobs will be generated among every 1000 people in every panchayat and municipality. A maximum of 95,000 jobs will be created.

• Kerala will try to meet this target by the month of December.

• 10,968 posts will also be created in educational institutions including schools and colleges to address the unemployment situation.

• 700 posts to be created in Medical colleges.

• 1,217 jobs to be created outside health and education sectors. 425 posts to be created in higher secondary schools.

• 1,000 people to be employed in CFLTCs.

• 5,000 individuals to be employed via PSC in the next 100 days.

• The Kerala PSC has been instructed to fill the pending vacancies with immediate effect.

• The government will employ 2,000 people in civil supplies division to distribute food kits for the next three months.

• 500 posts to be created in cooperative sector.

• 3977 individuals to be employed in PSUs.

Testing and quarantine

A total of 2,43,107 people are under observation in various districts. Of these, 2,12,849 are under home or institutional quarantine and 30,258 are in hospitals.

3,150 people were admitted in hospitals on Thursday.

In the last 24 hours alone 59,157 samples were tested.

So far, 29,85,534 samples (including the augmented sample) have been sent for testing.

In addition, as part of Sentinel Surveillance, 2,05,349 samples were collected from priority groups, such as health workers, guest workers, social contacts.

On Thursday, 14 more regions have been converted into hotspots and 18 have been excluded from the list taking the total number of hotspots to 656 in the state.

District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:

Kozhikode 1072 (contact cases - 1013)

Malappuram 968 (879)

Ernakulam 934 (740)

Thiruvananthapuram 856 (708)

Alappuzha 804 (774)

Kollam 633 (620)

Thrissur 613 (603)

Palakkad 513 (297)

Kottayam 340 (316)

Kasaragod 471 (447)

Kannur 435 (279)

Pathanamthitta 223 (135)

Wayanad 143 (135)

Idukki 130 (67)

District-wise breakup of recoveries:

Thiruvananthapuram 363

Kollam 213

Pathanamthitta 82

Alappuzha 191

Kottayam 148

Idukki 70

Ernakulam 226

Thrissur 290

Palakkad 113

Malappuram 322

Kozhikode 333

Wayanad 59

Kannur 129

Kasaragod 289

COVID deaths

Twenty-nine people died of the COVID-19 in Kerala on Thursday. With this, the death toll has risen to 771 in the state.

The deceased were identified as Thiruvanathapuram natives Abraham, 62, from Pallithara; Sharmila, 52, from Pulluvila; Velayudha Kurup, 92, from Nedumangad; Mohanan Nair, 75; Sudhakaran Das, 61, from Neyyatinkara; Sukumaran, 73, from Parassala; Shaheer, 45 from Chala; Vijayakumaran, 61, from Attingal; Rajan, 82 from Kottoor; Thankamma, 67, from Kureepuzha; Mohanan, 62, from Paravoor; Saleem, 55, from Karunagappally; Alappuzha native Manoharan, 60; Ernakulam natives KP Mohanan, 62, from Elanjikuzhi; KA Krishanan, 59, from Chelamattom; Alphonsa, 57, from Vachakulam; Risky Andrewdhooram, 67; Viswambharan, 92, from Vayalam; Nabeesa, 73, from Aluva; Kunjumon, 57, from Palluruthy; KP Grorge, 85, from Varappuzha; Thrissur natives Abdul Rahman, 55, from Ottaplavu; Balaraman, 53, Bhaskaran, 85, from Cherpu; Laila, 56, from Guruvayoor; Lissi, 70, from Kaloor; Kasaragod natives BK Khalid, 64; Kumaran, 62, from Meleparambu; and Khadijumma, 90, from Mangalpadi.

The rest of the deaths will be confirmed by the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha.