Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 2,13,499 on Friday, with the state reporting 9,258 fresh cases. This is the highest single-day spike reported in the state. The state also registered 4,092 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

So far, 1,35,144 people recovered from the disease, while 77,482 patients are still under treatment in various hospitals across the state, Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a statement.

Local transmission of COVID-19 continues unabated as 8,274 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 657 are unknown, the minister said.

Apart from this, 93 healthcare workers (27 from Thiruvananthapuram, 23 from Kannur, 11 from Ernakulam, 6 from Kasaragod, 5 each from Pathanamthitta and Kozhikode, 4 each from Kottayam and Wayanad, 3 from Alappuzha, 2 from Kollam and Thrissur, 1 from Malappuram) also contracted the virus. Three Indian Naval Hospital Ship (INHS) employees also tested positive.

Of the 9,258 cases reported on Friday, 47 people came from abroad, while 184 came from other states.

The minister also confirmed 20 more deaths on Friday. The official death toll now stands at 791.

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

Kozhikode – 1,146 (contact cases – 1109)

Thiruvananthapuram – 1,096 (956)

Ernakulam – 1,042 (851)

Malappuram – 1,016 (929)

Kollam – 892 (881)

Thrissur – 812 (807)

Palakkad – 633 (441)

Kannur – 625 (475)

Alappuzha – 605 (590)

Kasaragod – 476 (451)

Kottayam – 432 (421)

Pathanamthitta – 239 (161)

Idukki – 136 (99)

Wayanad – 108 (103)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Thiruvananthapuram – 357

Kollam – 295

Pathanamthitta – 218

Alappuzha – 342

Kottayam – 174

Idukki – 93

Ernakulam – 212

Thrissur – 270

Palakkad – 221

Malappuram – 951

Kozhikode – 423

Wayand – 75

Kannur – 303

Kasargod – 158

Testing and quarantine

In the last 24 hours, 63,175 samples have been tested, the health department statement said on Friday.

In total, 30,49,791 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing. As many as 2,13,499 samples also collected as part of sentinel surveillance.

Of the 2,46,631 people under observation for suspected infection, 2,15,778 are home/institutional quarantined and 30,853 hospitalised. As many as 3,599 people were hospitalised since Thursday.

63 new places were designated as hotspots on Friday, while 15 regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 705 hotspots.