Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala reported 5,490 new coronavirus positive cases after 67,712 tests on Thursday. The state also registered 4,337 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the Health department informed in a press statement.

The genetically modified virus was confirmed in 3 people, who came from the UK, after further testing of their samples at NIV, Pune. The virus was confirmed in two men aged 25 and 27 from Kannur district and a 52-year-old man in Pathanamthitta district. With this, the genetically modified virus have been detected in 9 people so far.

The state has reported 8,31,259 COVID-19 cases so far, out of which 7,61,154 persons recovered. The remaining 66,503 patients are undergoing treatment.

Kerala and Maharashtra remained the biggest epicentres, with half of all new cases in India coming from these two states. Kerala accounted for up to 30% of all cases in the country last week. The state has a disproportionately high positivity rate despite having among the best testing rates in the country. The current test positivity rate stands at 8.11.

With 19 deaths being reported on Thursday, the state's death toll has risen to 3,392.

Of the new cases, 4,911 contracted the disease through contact. The source of infection of 435 among them is unknown.

As many as 92 infected persons came from outside the state.

District-wise breakup of today's positive cases:

Malappuram - 712 (contact cases – 681)

Ernakulam - 659 (605)

Kozhikode - 582 (549)

Pathanamthitta - 579 (490)

Kollam - 463 (454)

Kottayam - 459 (418)

Thrissur - 446 (432)

Alappuzha - 347 (343)

Thiruvananthapuram - 295 (203)

Kannur - 235 (192)

Wayanad - 229 (217)

Palakakad - 210 (82)

Idukki - 202 (179)

Kasaragod - 72 (66)

District-wise breakup of recoveries:

Thiruvananthapuram – 296

Kollam – 263

Pathanamthitta – 317

Alappuzha – 485

Kottayam – 429

Idukki – 41

Ernakulam – 599

Thrissur – 402

Palakkad – 194

Malappuram – 395

Kozhikode – 482

Wayanad – 171

Kannur – 195

Kasaragod – 68

Testing and quarantine

A total of 2,01,293 people are under observation in various districts. Of these, 1,90,389 are under home or institutional quarantine and 10,904 are in hospitals.

1,821 people were admitted in hospitals on Thursday.

So far, 86,88,585 samples (including the augmented sample) have been sent for testing.

On Thursday, six more regions have been converted into hotspots and 13 have been excluded from the list taking the total number of hotspots to 420 in the state.