Kerala records 33,538 new Covid-19 cases, 444 deaths

'Currently, there are 3,52,399 active Covid-19 cases in the state of which only three per cent of the patients are admitted to hospitals,' the health department said

Kerala continued to witness a dip in the daily COVID-19 infection rate for the third consecutive day, with the state reporting 33,538 new positive cases on Saturday taking the caseload to 62,44,654.

The health department said 46,813 persons recuperated from the disease today, taking the number of recoveries to 58,33,762.

"Currently, there are 3,52,399 active COVID-19 cases in the state of which only three per cent of the patients are admitted to hospitals," it said.

Kerala had recorded 38,684 fresh infections yesterday and 42,677 COVID-19 cases on Thursday.

The state reported 444 COVID-19-related deaths on Saturday, taking the death toll to 57,740.

Of the deaths, 22 were reported in the last 24 hours, 225 were those which occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 197 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, the department release said.

A total of 1,02,778 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

Among the districts, Ernakulam reported the highest number of cases on Saturday--5,577, followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 3,912 and Kottayam 3,569.

There are 5,18,481 persons under observation in the state of which 10,276 are in isolation wards of various hospitals across Kerala.

Of those who were found infected today, 147 reached the state from outside, while 32,500 persons contracted the disease through their contact. The source of infection of 651 is yet to be traced and there are 240 health workers among the infected.