THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state has confirmed 138 new coronavirus positive cases on Monday, health minister KK Shailaja said. Of the new cases, 17 are in Malappuram, 16 in Palakkad, 13 in Kollam, 14 in Ernakulam, 13 each in Kollam and Kottayam, 12 each in Alappuzha and Thrissur, 11 in Thiruvananthapuram, nine in Kasaragod, five each in Kozhikode and Wayanad, four each in Pathanamthitta and Idukki, and three in Kannur.‌

Among the new cases, 87 persons had returned from abroad (Kuwait-43, UAE-14, Qatar-14, Saudi Arabia-9, Oman-4, Bahrain-1, Russia-1, Nigeria-1) and 47 persons had returned from other states (Maharashtra-18, Tamil Nadu-12, Delhi-10, West Bengal-2, Uttar Pradesh-2, Karnataka-1, Andhra Pradesh-1, Punjab-1). Four persons developed the disease through contact-two in Idukki and one each in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam. The person who contracted the virus through contact in Thiruvananthapuram is a security staff.

Meanwhile, 88 coronavirus patients tested negative for the disease on Monday. 26 of these patients are in Malappuram(one Thrissur, one Alappuzha native and one Palakkad native), 18 in Kannur(two Kasaragod, one Kozhikode, and one Thrissur native), 11 in Palakkad, nine in Ernakulam, seven each in Kozhikode and Kasaragod, four each in Kottayam and Thrissur, and two in Idukki.

As of today, there are 1540 active cases under treatment for the viral disease at various hospitals in Kerala. 1747 persons recovered from the disease.

There are 1,47,351 persons under observation in the state with 1,45,225 at home/institutional quarantine, and 2126 at hospitals. 241 persons were admitted to hospitals on Monday.

In the past 24 hours, 4734 samples were tested. A total of 1,85,903 samples were sent for testing including routine sample, augmented sample, sentinel sample, pooled sentinel, CB-NAAT, and Truenat. The results of 2266 samples are pending. As part of sentinel surveillance, 38,502 samples of persons in priority group were sent for testing. Of this, 37,539 samples returned with negative results.

Four new hotspots were declared on Monday-Parappanangadi Municipality(containment zone: ward 31) in Malappuram, Kattappana Municipality(5,8) and Rajakumari(8) in Idukki, and Vellangalloor(14,15) in Thrissur. Kalluvathukkal (ward 23) in Kollam has been removed from the list of hotspots. Currently, there are 112 hotspots in the state.