The COVID-19 case graph continued its upward trend in the State with 1,983 new cases being reported on Friday.
The cumulative case burden has now reached 54,182. However, 35,247 persons having recovered from the disease so far, the number of patients currently being treated in hospitals is 18,673.
The mortality rate has been rising in proportion to the rise in cases. The Health Department confirmed 12 deaths which had occurred last week to be COVID-19 deaths, taking the official toll to 203. Five of these deaths were reported from Kozhikode, four from Malappuram and one each from Alappuzha, Kannur and Ernakulam.
Locally acquired infections constituted nearly 92% of the new cases. In the 1,820 locally acquired infections, the infection could not be traced to a known source in 109 cases.
The number of health-care workers who tested positive is 35. Of these, 14 are from Thiruvananthapuram.
The capital district again reported the highest number of 429 cases, of which all except four cases are locally acquired infections. In Malappuram, 324 out of the 335 cases were a result of local transmission. The trend is very much similar in rest of the districts too, indicating the extent of the spread of the virus in the population.
Among other districts, Ernakulam reported 165 cases, Kozhikode 158, Alappuzha 155, Kottayam 136, Thrissur 119, Kasaragod 105, Palakkad 83, Kollam 82, Pathanamthitta 78, Kannur 78, Idukki 34 and Wayanad 26.
The number of persons quarantined at present is 1,76,930. Among them, 15,140 with mild symptoms are isolated in hospitals. The State tested 35,825 samples in the last 24 hours. Till date, 13,49,071 samples have been tested utilising various diagnostic modalities.
More areas were designated as hotspots, taking the total number to 607.