THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state has confirmed 133 new coronavirus positive cases on Sunday, health minister KK Shailaja said. Of the new cases, 16 are in Thrissur, 15 in Palakkad, 13 in Kollam, 11 in Idukki, 10 each in Alappuzha, Kottayam, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur, nine in Thiruvananthapuram, eight in Pathanamthitta, six in Kasaragod, and five in Ernakulam.

Among the new cases, 80 persons had returned from abroad (Kuwait-35, Saudi Arabia-18, UAE-13, Bahrain-5, Oman-5, Qatar-2, Egypt-1, Djibouti-1) and 43 persons had returned from other states (Tamil Nadu-17, Maharashtra-16, Delhi-3, Gujarat-2, West Bengal-2, Uttar Pradesh-2, Haryana-1 ). Nine persons developed the disease through contact-three each in Idukku and Thrissur, two in Palakkad, and one in Ernakulam.

Meanwhile, 93 coronavirus patients tested negative for the disease on Monday. 37 of these patients are in Thrissur, 30 in Malappuram(one Thrissur and one Pathanamthitta native), nine in Alappuzha, five in Kozhikode(a Kannur native), four in Pathanamthitta (one Alappuzha native), three in Kottayam, two each in Kannur and Kasaragod, and one in Palakkad.

As of today, there are 1490 patients under treatment for the viral disease at various hospitals in Kerala. 1659 persons recovered from the disease.

There are 1,43,969 persons under observation in the state with 1,41,919 at home/institutional quarantine, and 2050 at hospitals. 325 persons were admitted to hospitals on Sunday.

In the past 24 hours, 5239 samples were tested. As of Sunday, 1,37,475 samples of individuals(including private lab samples) were sent for testing. The results of 3460 samples are pending. As part of sentinel surveillance, 36,751 samples of persons in priority group were sent for testing. Of this, 36,751 samples returned with negative results. A total of 1,83,201 samples were sent for testing including routine sample, augmented sample, sentinel sample, pooled sentinel, CB-NAAT, and Truenat.

Seven new hotspots were declared on Sunday-Thrikkovilvattam, Mayyanad, Ittiva, Kalluvathukkal, Kollam Corporation in Kollam, Vazhappally in Kottayam, and Mallappuzhasseri in Palakkad. Nine places have been removed from the list of hotspots-Avanoor, Cherppu, Thrikkur, Irinjalakkuda Municipality, Vadanappally, Alagappa Nagar, Vellangalloor and Tholur in Thrissur, and Adichanelloor in Kollam. Currently, there are 109 hotspots in the state.