In biggest single-day spike, Kasaragod district reported 74 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
Among those infected through contact were 29 residents of Chengala. Other local transmission cases were reported from Mogral Puthur, Cheruthur, Meencha, Kumbala, Muliyar, Kasaragod Municipality, Manjeswaram, and Madhur.
District Collector D. Sajith Babu said the current situation in the district was grim.
The Collector was speaking at the district-level Corona Core Committee meeting held at the Collectorate on Wednesday.
In the wake of increasing number of local transmission cases, more restrictions will be in place in the district.
Shops will be allowed to open only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. In case of non-compliance, shops will be closed for seven days and will be allowed to reopen only after disinfection.
Areas along the national highway from Kumbala to Thalappadi have been declared as containment zones.
All meetings in the district, including hearings, have been postponed for 14 days.
The ban on fishing will continue until July 17.
In Malappuram
A COVID-19 infected 69-year-old man died while being in quarantine at Purathur near Tirur on Wednesday. He was quarantined at his home after returning from Bengaluru.
Health officials said he developed high fever and collapsed. He was found positive when the test results came after his death.
Meanwhile, 17 others tested positive for the virus in Malappuram district on Wednesday. While four of them had contracted the virus through local transmission, three had returned from other States and 10 from abroad.
In Kannur
Kannur district reported 35 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. While eight of them returned from abroad, 15 came from other States. Nine are DSC personnel and three got infected through contact.
With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the district rose to 795. Of these, 463 were discharged from the hospital. There are currently 26,093 persons under observation.
In Palakkad
Nineteen persons tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in Palakkad district on Wednesday. They included a one-year-old girl and a man from Malappuram.
Eleven of the new cases had returned from the United Arab Emirates, five from Saudi Arabia, and one from Tamil Nadu.
Apart from them, a man from Puthuppariyaram and a migrant labour from Assam were tested positive, but their source of infection could not be ascertained.
The total number of infected persons currently under treatment in the district rose to 264 on Wednesday. Apart from them, ten persons from Palakkad are being treated in other districts also.
In Thrissur
Five more persons tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in Thrissur on Wednesday. One person was infected through contact.
As many as 241 persons are currently undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in various hospitals.
Meanwhile, antigen testing is under way in the district. More than 100 tests were held in Kunnamkulam and Irinjalakuda. In all, 14,105 people are under observation in the district.
In Wayanad
Wayanad reported four more COVID-19 cases.
Officials said a 37-year-old man from Pozhuthana who returned from Saudi Arabia, a 24-year-old woman from Kurukkan Moola near Kattikulam, a 23-year-old youth from Chennalode, and a 32-year-old from Edavaka who had returned from Bengaluru were the newly infected patients.
All of them were shifted to the District Hospital at Mananthavady.
Meanwhile, a 37-year-old woman from Thavinjal, who was undergoing treatment at the District Hospital for the disease, was discharged after being tested negative.
Of the 201 cases reported in the district so far, 100 have been cured.
(With inputs from Kannur, Palakkad, Thrissur, Malappuram, and Wayanad bureaus)