Kerala: Spurt in active Covid cases as 6,000 more contract virus

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Covid-19 was reported among 6,186 people in the state on Tuesday and the total cases reported till date has climbed to 8,57,380.
Among the new cases, 5,541 are cases of local transmission and the contact source of infection was not traceable for 484. There are 69 medical or paramedical staff among those infected and 92 people have arrived from outside the state.
At the same time, 4,296 patients have recovered from the disease.Meanwhile, 26 deaths occurred in the last few days were confirmed as due to Covid-19, taking the related death toll in the state to 3,507. So far, 63 people who have come from the UK after December 9 have tested positive of Covid-19 and samples taken from them have been sent to NIV, Pune, for conforming the new virus strain. Nine people have been identified with the new strain till date.
In the last 24 hours, 66,259 samples were tested with a test positivity rate of 9.34%. A total of 90,20,399 samples have been sent for testing till now.
So far, 7,83,393 people have recovered from the infection in the state as 70,259 patients are still undergoing treatment. Ernakulam reported the highest number of cases — 1,019, followed by Kottayam (674), Kollam (591), Thrissur (540), Pathanamthitta (512), Malappuram (509), Kozhikode (481), Alappuzha (475), Thiruvananthapuram (404), Kannur (301), Wayanad (245), Palakkad (242), Idukki (130) and Kasaragod (63).
As many as 2,09,175 people are presently under observation across the state, of which 11,005 are under isolation at hospitals. On Tuesday, 1,060 people were admitted to the hospitals. Eight new places were declared as new hotspots and there are currently 410 hotspots in the state.