COVID-19: 24 fresh cases confirmed in Kerala on Thursday, eight persons recover; three new hotspots

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 24 fresh cases of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Kerala on Thursday, health minister KK Shylaja said. Among the new cases, five are in Malappuram, four in Kannur, three each in Kottayam and Thrissur, two each in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and one each on Palakkad and Kasaragod.

14 of these cases are returnees from abroad (UAE-8, Kuwait-4, Qatar-1, Malaysia-1). The virus was confirmed in ten persons who came from other states (Maharashtra-5, Tamil Nadu-3, Gujarat-1, Andhra Pradesh-1).

Tests of eight patients returned with negative results on Thursday. As of today, there are 177 persons under treatment at various hospitals in Kerala. 510 persons have recovered from the disease so far.

A total of 78,096 persons came to Kerala through various channels (airports-5495, sea port-1621, check posts-68,844, railway-2136). There are 80,138 persons under observation in the state including 527 at hospitals. 153 individuals were admitted to hospitals on Thursday.

Samples of 49,833 persons (including augmented samples) were sent for testing, out of which 48,276 returned with negative results.

As part of sentinel surveillance, 6540 samples were sent for testing and 6265 samples turned negative. In the past 24 hours, 1798 samples were tested.

Three new hotspots were declared in the state on Thursday-Thrikkadeeri, Sreekrishnapuram in Palakkad, and Dharmadam in Kannur. Eight places were excluded from the list of hotspots. Currently, there are 28 hotspots in the state.