Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 440,130 on Sunday, with the state reporting 7,025 fresh cases. The state also registered 8,511 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

In the last 24 hours, 50,010 samples have been tested. Test positivity rate is 14.04%.

So far, 3,48,835 people recovered from the disease, while 89,675 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 6,163 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 712 are unknown, the minister said.

Apart from this, 65 healthcare workers also contracted the virus.

The minister also confirmed 28 more deaths on Sunday. The official death toll now stands at 1,512.

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

Ernakulam – 1042 (contact cases – 841)

Thrissur – 943 (920)

Kozhikode – 888 (870)

Kollam – 711 (702)

Alappuzha – 616 (591)

Thiruvananthapuram – 591 (453)

Malappuram – 522 (483)

Palakkad – 435 (222)

Kottayam – 434 (431)

Kannur – 306 (214)

Pathanamthitta – 160 (122)

Idukki – 148 (105)

Kasaragod – 143 (130)

Wayanad – 86 (79)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Thrissur – 1049

Kozhikode – 1042

Malappuram – 890

Kollam – 838

Thiruvananthapuram – 831

Ernakulam – 808

Alappuzha – 778

Kannur – 548

Kottayam – 474

Palakkad – 390

Idukki – 353

Pathanamthitta – 208

Kasaragod – 170

Wayanad – 132

Testing and quarantine

In total, 46,95,059 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing.

Of the 2,93,622 people under observation for suspected infection, 2,71,499 are home/institutional quarantined and 22,123 hospitalised. As many as 2,667 people were hospitalised since Saturday.

Seven new places were designated as hotspots on Sunday, while 22 regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 671 hotspots.