As many as 8,655 more people tested positive for Covid-19 across Kerala in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 64,49,026, said the health department on Thursday.
Among the 14 districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest number of cases at 1,696 cases, followed by Thiruvananthapuram (1,087) and Kollam (812).
Of the new cases, 87 were health workers, 24 from outside the state and 7,884 infected through contact with the source of it not being clear in 660.
The southern state saw the fresh infections dropping below the 10,000-mark after days of recording marginal surges. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Kerala had recorded 11,776 and 12,223 fresh cases, respectively.
In addition to this, Kerala on Thursday also reported 319 deaths, which raised the total fatalities in the state to 63,338.
Of the deaths, 18 were reported in the last 24 hours, 108 were those which occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 193 were designated as Covid-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, said the health department.
With 22,707 more people recuperating from the disease since Wednesday, the total recoveries in the state reached 62,85,477.
Further, the active cases in the state dropped below one lakh to 99,424. On Wednesday, the number of active cases was 1,13,798.
As many as 64,650 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.
There are currently 2,14,307 people under surveillance in various districts, of whom 2,09,925 are in home or institutional quarantine and 4,382 in hospitals.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Karnatka earlier during the day did away with the requirement of furnishing a negative RT-PCR report for Kerala passengers entering the state.
However, a vaccine certificate is mandatory for the passengers.
Following the third wave of Covid-19, which started from the last week of December 2021, the government had imposed restrictions and made a negative RT-PCR test a must along with the double dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
