After testing 40,014 samples in the last 24 hours, the State reported 3,349 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the total number of cases one step closer to the one lakh mark, at 99,266 cases.
The recoveries reported on the day was 1,657. With the total recoveries reported till date reaching 72,574, the number of COVID-19 patients currently in hospitals across the State is 26,229.
Among the active cases, 263 persons are critically ill in ICUs, while another 63 are in ICUs with ventilator support.
The official toll in the State, as recorded by the Health Department, touched 396, with 12 more deaths which occurred in the State between August 21 and September 6 finding a place in the “provisional” COVID death list of the State.
Seven of these deaths were reported from Malappuram, two from Thiruvananthapuram and one each from Alappuzha, Thrissur, and Kasaragod.
Local transmission
Community transmission having been fairly well-established in the State, on Thursday too 93.5% of the new cases reported – 3,134 out of the 3,349 new cases – were locally acquired infections, with 266 cases having no known epidemiological link.
Of these new cases, 72 are infections reported among health-care workers, with 18 in Kannur, 13 in Thrissur, 12 in Thiruvananthapuram, 11 in Ernakulam, and the rest amongst seven districts.
Thiruvananthapuram reported 558 cases, the highest case tally amongst districts, of which all except four cases were locally acquired infections.
Among other districts, Malappuram has 330 cases, Thrissur 300, Kannur 276, Alappuzha 267, Kozhikode 261, Kollam 244, Ernakulam 227, Kottayam 217, Palakkad 194, Kasaragod 140, Pathanamthitta 135, Idukki 105, and Wayanad 95 cases.
The number of hotspots on the State now is 594.