Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 20 (UNI) Kerala reported 4,650 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Friday, while 5,841 patients recovered from the disease, Health Minister KK Shailaja said.
"In the last 24 hours, COVID was not confirmed in any person who had recently came to Kerala from the UK (total 86 now) and their samples have been sent to NIV, Pune for further testing. So far, 10 people who came from the UK were diagnosed with the genetically modified virus," the minister said in a press release here on Saturday.
Meanwhile, 13 recent deaths were confirmed on Saturday due to COVID taking the death toll in the state to 4,074.
The minister said 65,968 samples were tested during the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate is currently at 7.05 %. Till now, a total of 1,09,72,895 samples have been sent for testing.
On Saturday, three places were declared as new hotspots even as eight more areas were excluded. There are 366 hotspots in Kerala at the moment.
UNI DS ACL2233