Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 5,33,500 on Tuesday, with the state reporting 5,792 fresh cases. The state also registered 6,620 recoveries since Monday.

In the last 24 hours, 56,157 samples have been tested. In total, 55,54,265 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing. The test positivity rate is 10.31.

So far, 4,61,394 people recovered from the disease, while 70,070 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 4,985 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 639 are unknown, the minister said.

Apart from this, 64 healthcare workers also contracted the virus.

The minister also confirmed 27 more deaths on Tuesday. The official death toll now stands at 1,915.

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

Malappuram - 776 (contact cases - 734)

Kollam – 682 (674)

Thrissur - 667 (650)

Kozhikode - 644 (603)

Ernakulam - 613 (451)

Kottayam - 429 (427)

Thiruvananthapuram - 391 (286)

Palakkad - 380 (177)

Alappuzha - 364 (345)

Kannur - 335 (248)

Pathanamthitta - 202 (130)

Idukki - 116 (86)

Wayanad - 97 (82)

Kasaragod - 96 (92)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Kozhikode - 831

Palakkad - 820

Thrissur - 723

Kannur - 625

Kollam - 622

Ernakulam - 588

Thiruvananthapuram - 561

Kottayam - 501

Malappuram - 497

Alappuzha - 397

Pathanamthitta - 154

Kasaragod - 130

Wayanad - 117

Idukki - 54

Of the 3,20,023 people under observation for suspected infection, 3,03,218 are home/institutional quarantined and 16,805 hospitalised. As many as 1,353 people were hospitalised since Monday.

Eight new places were designated as hotspots on Tuesday, while nine regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 599 hotspots.