Kerala records 596 fresh COVID-19 cases, 24 deaths

Kerala on Sunday recorded 596 fresh COVID-19 infections which raised the total caseload to 65,27,194.

The southern State reported 24 deaths and took the fatalities to 67,339 so far, according to an official press release.

Of the deaths, four occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 20 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, the release said.

No deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, it said.

With 908 more people recovering from the virus since Saturday, the total recoveries reached 64,53,172 and the active cases dropped to 5,812, the release said.

As many as 18,590 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

Among the 14 districts, Ernakulam recorded the most with 122 cases followed by Thiruvananthapuram (75) and Kozhikode (55), the release said. Of the new cases, three were those of health workers and 568 got infected through contact with the source of it not being clear in 25, the release said.

There are 18,746 people now under surveillance in various districts, of whom 18,073 are in home or institutional quarantine and 673 in hospitals, it added.