THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After a hiatus of about one-and-half-months, Kerala for the first time reported no new COVID-19 cases in the state on Friday. Since March 19, the state has been reporting new cases daily without any break.
As many as nine patients were discharged on Friday, four each from Kasaragod and Kannur and one from Ernakulam. With this the total number of discharged people has risen to 392, of the total 497 COVID-19 cases, leaving only 102 people under treatment in various hospitals in the state.
However, about 21,499 people are still under surveillance in the state including 432 in hospital quarantine. Further, as many as 106 people were newly admitted to various hospitals in the state with suspected symptoms on Friday.
Samples of 27,150 people were sent for lab tests, of which 26,225 turned negative. Out of the 1862 samples collected as part of the sentinel surveillance among health workers, migrant workers etc, 999 samples tested negative.
The health department has also collected 3128 samples as part of community testing, of which 3089 tested negative. Of the remaining cases, four tested positive, which was announced earlier, while 14 cases are being tested in various labs and 21 cases turned down by the labs have been subjected for retest.
In addition, 10 more hotspots have been announced in the state taking the total number of hotspots to 80. Uduma in Kasaragod, Maranjeri in Malappuram, Kulathur, Parasala, Athiyannoor, Vellarada, Amboori, Balaramapuram and Kunnathukal in Thiruvananthapuram are the new hotspots.