Kerala records 79 new COVID-19 positive cases: State Health Minister

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja on Tuesday said that 79 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the State, of which 47 had returned from other countries.

According to the Directorate of Health Services, so far, a total of 2,622 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the state, of which 1,366 are active cases. About 1,234 patients have been cured of COVID -19 in the State.

Giving the break-up of new cases, Health Minister said, " 15 persons from Malappuram district, 13 in Ernakulam district, seven each from Alappuzha, Thrissur and Kannur districts, six each in Pathanamthitta and Palakkad districts, four each from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam and Kozhikode districts, and two in Kasargod district are those who tested positive for the disease."

Of the new cases, 47 people have come back from other countries. Five persons have got infected through primary contact, two in Thiruvananthapuram district and one each in Malappuram, Kannur and Palakkad districts. In addition to this, a health worker in the Pathanamthitta district has also been infected.

In the meantime, 60 patients who were under treatment for COVID-19 have tested negative on Tuesday.

Fourteen patients from Thiruvananthapuram district, nine in Palakkad District, eight from Kasargod district, seven in Malappuram district, five each from Alappuzha and Wayanad districts, and four in Kottayam district, three each from Pathanamthitta and Thrissur districts, and one each in Ernakulam and Kannur districts are those who have recovered from the disease.

As many as 1,22,143 people are currently under observation in various districts of the state. Of these, 1,20,157 are under surveillance in their home or institutional quarantine, and 1,986 are isolated in hospitals. 210 persons were hospitalised today.

In the last 24 hours, 4,003 samples were tested. So far, samples of 1,18,893 individuals have been sent for testing and out of these, the results of 4,081 samples are expected.In addition to this, 32,534 samples were collected from priority groups such as health workers, guest workers, socially active people as part of Sentinel Surveillance, and 31,093 samples have been confirmed with no infection. Overall, 1,57,117 samples have been sent for testing.

One place in Thiruvananthapuram district was declared as a hotspot today in Kerala while 16 places have been removed from the list. As of now, there are 110 hotspots in the State.

( With inputs from ANI )