Kerala records biggest single-day spike of 2,655 new Covid-19 cases

Kerala on Saturday

reported 2,655 new COVID-19 cases, the highest ever reported in a single day, taking the infection count in the state to 84,758, while the death toll has mounted to 337 with the addition of 11 more fatalities.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said currently, 21,800 people are under treatment in the state forCOVID-19, and 62,559 people have so far been cured of the disease.

"There are currently 1,98,120 people under observation in various districts of the state and 17,222 are in isolation wards of various hospitals across the state," he said.

Out of the fresh cases,2,433 are locally transmitted cases and the contact source in 220 cases was unknown.

"At least 38 of them are returnees from foreign countries and 114 from other states," he told reporters.

Vijayan said 61 healthcare workers were also among those infected.

"At the same time, 2,111 patients under treatment for the disease have recovered today," Vijayan said.

Thiruvananthapuram has the highest number of infections on Saturday with 590 cases, followed by 276 from Kasaragod district and 249 in Malappuram district.

There are 244 cases from Kozhikode, 222 from Kannur, 186 in Ernakulam, 170 in Kollam, 169 from Thrissur, 148 in Pathanamthitta, 131 from Alappuzha, 119 from Kottayam, 100 in Palakkad, 31 from Idukki district and 20 from Wayanad district.

At least 40,162 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, Vijayan said.

He said 14 new places were declared as hotspots today while 22 places were exempted.

At present, there are 551 hotspots in Kerala.

Thiruvananthapuram, the capital district, has 5,044 active COVID-19 cases, followed by Ernakulam with 2,392.

Kozhikode has 1,905 cases,Malappuram 1,728, Kasaragod 1,620 and Kollam 1,599.