Kerala reported 152 new cases of COVID-19 and 81 recoveries on Wednesday, taking the total number of active cases or cases currently undergoing treatment in hospitals to 1,691. Of the new cases, 144 are imported cases of infection, with 98 persons having come from abroad and another 46 cases found in persons who had travelled into the State from other parts of the country.
The remaining eight cases got infected through local transmission by contact with known or unknown sources of infection.
Pathanamthitta accounted for 25 of the new cases, Kollam 18, Kannur 17, Palakkad 16, Alappuzha and Thrissur 15 each, Malappuram 10, Ernakulam, 8, Kottayam 7, Idukki and Kasaragod 6 each, Thiruvananthapuram, 4, Kozhikode 3, and Wayanad 2. Ever since the COVID-19 outbreak happened in the State, 3,603 persons have tested positive for the disease, of whom 1,888 have so far made full recoveries.
The State has put 1,54,759 persons under surveillance and in quarantine in various districts. From among this group, 2,282 persons who seemed to have mild symptoms have been isolated in hospitals. On Wednesday alone, 288 such persons were admitted to hospitals across the State.
The State has tested a total of nearly two lakh samples — 1,97, 567 to be precise — for COVID-19 so far. This is apart from the 40,537 samples tested from people in the vulnerable groups in the community as part of sentinel surveillance.
While 14 regions entered the hotspot list, another 14 were dropped from the list.
The number of hotspots in the State at present is 111.