Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 4,33,105 on Saturday, with the state reporting 7,983 fresh cases. The state also registered 7,330 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

In the last 24 hours, 59,999 samples have been tested. The test positivity rate is 13.31.

So far, 3,40,324 people recovered from the disease, while 91,190 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 7,049 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 786 are unknown, the minister said.

Apart from this, 62 healthcare workers also contracted the virus.

The minister also confirmed 27 more deaths on Saturday. The official death toll now stands at 1,484.

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

Ernakulam – 1,114 (826 through contact)

Thrissur – 1,112 (1104)

Kozhikode – 834 (797)

Thiruvananthapuram – 790 (643)

Malappuram – 769 (719)

Kollam – 741 (735)

Alappuzha – 645 (635)

Kottayam – 584 (580)

Palakkad – 496 (287)

Kannur – 337 (248)

Pathanamthitta – 203 (152)

Kasaragod – 156 (143)

Wayanad – 145 (139)

Idukki – 57 (41)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Malappuram – 994

Ernakulam – 853

Kozhikode – 789

Kottayam – 743

Thiruvananthapuram – 562

Thrissur – 582

Alappuzha – 571

Kollam – 510

Kannur – 480

Palakkad – 458

Pathanamthitta – 259

Idukki – 279

Kasaragod – 162

Wayanad – 88

Testing and quarantine

In total, 46,45,049 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing.

Of the 2,91,440 people under observation for suspected infection, 2,69,059 are home/institutional quarantined and 22,381 hospitalised. As many as 3,329 people were hospitalised since Friday.

Eight new places were designated as hotspots on Saturday, while 12 regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 686 hotspots.