THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state has confirmed 1608 new COVID cases on Saturday, Health Minister KK Shailaja said. This is the highest single-day spike of COVID cases reported in the state.

Among the new cases, 1409 persons developed the disease through contact including 112 cases without an identified source of infection. While 74 persons had returned from abroad, 90 returned from other states. 31 health workers developed the disease in the last 24 hours.

District wise break up of positive cases:

Malappuram-362

Thiruvananthapuram-321

Kozhikode-151

Alappuzha-118

Ernakulam-106

Kollam-91

Thrissur-85

Kasaragod-81

Palakkad-74

Kannur-52

Pathanamthitta-49

Wayanad-48

Kottayam-39

Idukki-31

Meanwhile, 803 patients tested negative for the virus on Saturday, the minister added.

The state reported seven COVID deaths on Saturday taking the total toll to 146.

The number of tests has been increased. In the past 24 hours, 32,108 samples were tested. A total of 11,54,365 samples were sent for testing so far. The results of 9246 samples are awaited.

20 new hotspots were declared in the state on Saturday.