Kerala clocks 7,540 new COVID cases, 259 deaths

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala recorded 7,540 fresh coronavirus infections and 259 deaths on Wednesday, raising the caseload to 50,34,858 and the fatalities to 34,621

With 7,841 more people recovering from the virus since Tuesday, the total recoveries touched 49,22,834 and the active cases reached 70,459, an official press release said.

Of the 259 deaths, 48 were reported over the last few days and 211 were designated as COVID deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and Supreme Court directions, it said.

As many as 76,380 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

Among the 14 districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest with 1,151 cases followed by Thiruvananthapuram (1,083) and Kottayam (812).

Of the new cases, 47 were health workers, 30 from outside the state and 7,077 infected through contact, with the source of it not being clear in 386.

There are currently 2,21,733 people under surveillance in various districts, of whom 2,16,046 are in home or institutional quarantine and 5,687 in hospitals.