Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 4,80,669 on Saturday, with the state reporting 7,201 fresh cases. The state also registered 7,120 recoveries since Friday.

In the last 24 hours, 64,051 samples have been tested. The test positivity rate is 11.24%.

So far, 3,95,624 people recovered from the disease, while 83,261 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 6,316 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 728 are unknown, the minister said.

Apart from this, 61 healthcare workers (Ernakulam – 19, Kozhikode – 8, Thrissur – 7, Malappuram – 6, Kannur – 5, Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta – 4 each, Kasaragod – 3, Alappuzha – 2, Kollam, Idukki and Palakkad – 1 each) also contracted the virus.

The minister also confirmed 28 more deaths on Saturday. The official death toll now stands at 1,668.

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

Ernakulam – 1,042 (contact cases – 767)

Kozhikode – 971 (923)

Thrissur – 864 (840)

Thiruvananthapuram – 719 (554)

Alappuzha – 696 (683)

Malappuram - 642 (606)

Kollam – 574 (565)

Kottayam – 500 (497)

Palakkad – 465 (300)

Kannur – 266 (187)

Pathanamthitta – 147 (121)

Wayanad –113 (100)

Idukki – 108 (87)

Kasaragod – 94 (86)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Malappuram – 1,343

Ernakulam – 1,010

Thiruvananthapuram – 761

Kozhikode – 649

Kottayam – 612

Kollam – 562

Alappuzha – 549

Thrissur – 423

Kannur - 313

Palakkad – 286

Kasaragod – 210

Pathanamthitta – 196

Wayanad – 106

Idukki – 100

Testing and quarantine

In total, 50,49,635 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing.

Of the 3,07,107 people under observation for suspected infection, 2,86,322 are home/institutional quarantined and 20,785 hospitalised. As many as 2,445 people were hospitalised since Friday.

14 new places were designated as hotspots on Saturday, while 38 regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 612 hotspots.