Kerala recorded new 6,491 COVID-19 cases and 5,770 recoveries on Wednesday.

With this, the test positivity rate rose to 9.83 in the state.

Of the new cases, 5,669 had contracted the virus through contact while 95 had come from outside the state. Among the contact cases, the source of infection of 663 is yet to be traced.

With this, the number of active cases in the state reached 65,106.

The state has reported 5,78,363 COVID-19 infections so far. Of this, 5,11,008 made recovery.

26 more COVID deaths

Twenty-six COVID deaths too were confirmed. With this, COVID death toll rises to 2,121.

Though more deaths were reported, the state is yet to ascertain them as COVID deaths. Tests are underway at the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha.

Here's the break-up of today's positive cases:

Kozhikode - 833 (Contact cases - 781)
Ernakulam - 774 (566)
Malappuram - 664 ( 628)
Thrissur - 652 ( 634)
Alappuzha - 546 ( 530)
Kollam -539 ( 536)
Palakkad - 463 ( 255)
Thiruvananthapuram - 461 (363)
Kottayam - 450 (444)
Pathanamthitta - 287 (220)
Kannur - 242 (197)
Wayanad - 239 ( 219)
Idukki - 238 (201)
Kasaragod - 103 (95)

Recoveries:

Alappuzha - 899
Ernakulam - 750
Kozhikode - 678
Thrissur - 631
Malappuram - 588
Thiruvananthapuram - 461
Kottayam - 436
Palakkad - 349
Kannur - 320
Idukki - 181
Kollam - 175
Pathanamthitta - 170
Wayanad - 71
Kasaragod - 61

64 healthworkers contract virus

Sixty-two healthworkers too contracted the virus on the day.

They include 16 from Ernakulam, 13 from Kannur, 8 from Kozhikode, 7 from Pathanamthitta, 5 from Thiruvananthapuram, 3 from Thrissur, 2 each from Kollam, Alappzuha, Kottayam, Palakkad, and Kasaragod, and one each from Malappuram and Wayanad.

Testing and Quarantine

In the last 24 hours, 66,042 samples have been tested. In total, 60,18,925 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing.

A total of 3,14,676 people are under observation across the state. Of them, 2,98,616 are under home or institutional quarantine while 16,060 are in hospital. A total of 1,853 people were admitted in hospitals on Tuesday.

Three regions have been designated as hotspots while 13 were removed from the list. The total number of hotspots is at 546 in the state now.