Kerala reports 65 new COVID-19 cases, five new places declared as hotspots: KK Shailaja

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja confirmed 65 new COVID-19 positive cases in the state on Wednesday and informed that five news places have been declared as hotspots.

Of the new cases reported here on Wednesday, 10 persons are from Kozhikode, nine in Thrissur, seven from Malappuram, six each in Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad, four each from Kollam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Wayanad and Kannur, three each in Pathanamthitta and Kottayam and one from Alappuzha district. Among these, 34 people have come back from overseas and 25 from other Indian states.

So far, 905 patients have been cured of coronavirus and 1,238 people are still under treatment across the state, said the Minister.

The total number of people under observation in various districts of the state is 2,10,592. Out of these, 2,08,748 are under surveillance at their homes or institutional quarantine centres and 1,844 are isolated in hospitals. 206 persons were admitted to the hospital on Wednesday.

The Minister also said, over the last 24 hours, 4,689 samples were tested. Till now, 98,304 samples (including augmented samples) have been sent for testing and 93,475 samples have been confirmed with no infection."Apart from this, 24,508 samples were collected from priority groups with more social exposure as part of sentinel surveillance and 22,950 samples were negative. So far, a total of 1,31,006 samples were tested, including 6,364 repeat samples," Shailaja informed.

Moreover, five new places were declared as hotspots in Kerala today, taking the total to 163. "One place each in Malappuram and Kasargod districts and three in Kottayam district are the new hotspots," she further added.

( With inputs from ANI )