Kerala records 51,570 new COVID-19 cases

Thiruvananthapuram: COVID-19 cases in Kerala continued to rise with the southern state reporting 51,570 new infections on Sunday taking the total number of affected people to 59,83,515.

The state has reported 14 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 53,666, the state health department said.

The state has tested 1,03,366 samples in the last 24 hours, a release issued by the health department said.

On Saturday, Kerala had reported 50,812 cases. On January 25, Kerala had registered 55,475 cases, the highest ever single-day spike in the infection count since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.

Among the districts, Ernakulam reported 9,704 cases, the highest in the state on Sunday, followed by Thrissur with 7,289 and Thiruvananthapuram with 5,746 cases.

“Currently, there are 3,54,595 active COVID-19 cases in the state out of which only 3.4 per cent are admitted to hospitals,” the health department said in a release.

There are 5,27,362 people under observation in the state out of whom 12,628 are in isolation wards of various hospitals across Kerala, it said.

Out of those who were found infected on Sunday, 177 reached the state from outside while 47,778 contracted the disease from their contacts. The sources of infection of 3,178 are yet to be traced. 439 health workers are also among the infected.

Among the latest fatalities, 87 were recorded over the last few days, while 374 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, 32,701 people recuperated from the disease on Sunday taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 55,74,535.