Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 5,57,441 on Saturday, with the state reporting 5,772 fresh cases. The state also registered 6,719 recoveries since Friday.

In the last 24 hours, 60,210 samples have been tested. In total, 58,09,226 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing. The test positivity rate is 9.59.

So far, 4,88,437 people recovered from the disease, while 66,856 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 4,989 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, 53 healthcare workers (Ernakulam 11, Kannur 10, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Kasaragod 5 each, Palakkad and Wayanad 4 each, Thrissur and Kozhikode 3 each, Malappuram 2, Kottayam 1) also contracted the virus.

The minister also confirmed 25 more deaths on Saturday. The official death toll now stands at 2,022.

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

Ernakulam - 797 (contact cases - 609)

Malappuram - 764 (733)

Kozhikode - 710 (668)

Thrissur - 483 (464)

Palakkad - 478 (269)

Kollam - 464 (458)

Kottayam - 423 (419)

Thiruvananthapuram - 399 (271)

Alappuzha - 383 (375)

Pathanamthitta - 216 (165)

Kannur - 211 (166)

Idukki - 188 (160)

Wayanad - 152 (141)

Kasaragod - 104 (91)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Alappuzha - 919

Malappuram - 740

Kollam - 681

Thrissur - 680

Ernakulam - 658

Kozhikode - 622

Thiruvananthapuram - 609

Palakkad - 590

Kannur - 473

Kottayam - 271

Pathanamthitta - 167

Kasaragod - 158

Wayanad - 79

Idukki - 72

Of the 3,18,079 people under observation for suspected infection, 3,01,749 are home/institutional quarantined and 16,330 hospitalised. As many as 1,846 people were hospitalised since Friday.

Six new places were designated as hotspots on Saturday, while three regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 560 hotspots.