THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 53 fresh cases of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Kerala on Sunday, a press release from health minister KK Shylaja said. Among the new cases, 13 each are in Thiruvananthapuram and in Kannur, five each in Kasaragod and Malappuram, four each in Alappuzha, Ernakulam, and Palakkad, three in Kollam, two in Kollam and one in Kozhikode. A Tamil Nadu native was also confirmed of the disease.

18 of these cases are returnees from abroad (UAE-11, Kuwait-1, Oman-3, Saudi Arabia-3). The virus was confirmed in 29 persons who came from other states (Maharashtra-19, Tamil Nadu-3, Gujarat-5, Madhya Pradesh-1, Delhi-1). Five persons developed the disease through contact. One of these is a health worker in Palakkad.

On Sunday, test of five COVID patients returned negative results. As of today, there are 322 persons under treatment at various hospitals in Kerala. 520 persons have recovered from the disease so far.

A total of 93,404 persons came to Kerala through various channels (airports-7847, sea port-1621, check posts-79,908, railway-4028). There are 95,934 persons under observation in the state including 732 at hospitals. 188 individuals were admitted to hospitals on Sunday.

Samples of 53,873 persons (including augmented samples) were sent for testing, out of which 52,355 returned with negative results.

As part of sentinel surveillance, 8027 samples were sent for testing and 7588 samples turned negative. In the past 24 hours, 1726 samples were tested.

18 new hotspots were declared in the state on Thursday-Kodom Belur in Kasaragod, Ambalathara, Vellinezhi, Ottappalam Municipality, Vallappuzha, Perumatti, Mundoor, Kadambazippuram in Palakkad, Vellavoor and Meenadam in Kottayam, Pandanadu and Chengannur Municipality in Alappuzha, Azhiyoor and Onchiyam in Kozhikode, Koodali, Kanichar, Perallasseri, Pannyannur in Kannur. Currently, there are 55 hotspots in the state.