Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's COVID-19 case count reached 6,31,615 on Saturday, with the state reporting 5,848 fresh cases. The state also registered 5,820 recoveries since Friday.

In the last 24 hours, 60,503 samples have been tested. In total, 65,56,713 samples (including routine, airport surveillance, pooled sentinel, CBNAAT, TrueNAT, CLIA and antigen assay) were sent for testing. The test positivity rate is 9.67.

So far, 5,67,694 people recovered from the disease, while 61,393 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 5,137 of the newly reported cases contracted the virus through contact. Of this, the infection sources of 613 are unknown, the minister said.

Apart from this, 45 healthcare workers (Thiruvananthapuram 7, Ernakulam and Kannur 6 each, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Wayanad 5 each, Palakkad 4, Malappuram 3, Kollam and Kasaragod 2 each) also contracted the virus.

The minister also confirmed 32 more deaths on Saturday. The official death toll now stands at 2,390.

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

Malappuram - 920 (contact cases - 880)

Kozhikode - 688 (645)

Ernakulam - 655 (509)

Kottayam - 567 (561)

Thrissur - 536 (518)

Kollam - 405 (400)

Palakkad - 399 (198)

Alappuzha - 365 (338)

Thiruvananthapuram - 288 (195)

Kannur - 280 (244)

Wayanad - 258 (246)

Pathanamthitta - 208 (173)

Idukki - 157 (121)

Kasaragod - 112 (109)

District-wise break-up of recoveries:

Malappuram - 1,023

Thrissur - 590

Kottayam - 588

Alappuzha - 551

Ernakulam - 492

Kozhikode - 460

Kollam - 410

Palakkad - 405

Thiruvananthapuram - 337

Kannur - 288

Pathanamthitta - 268

Kasaragod - 172

Wayanad - 148

Idukki - 88

Of the 3,15,024 people under observation for suspected infection, 2,99,962 are home/institutional quarantined and 15,062 hospitalised. As many as 1,721 people were hospitalised since Friday.

Two new places were designated as hotspots on Saturday, while two regions were excluded from the list. The state presently has 444 hotspots.