Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 30 (PTI): Kerala's COVID-19 caseload crossed the six lakh mark on Monday, with 3,382 new cases, including 33 health workers,as the toll mounted to 2244 with 21 more deaths, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

As many as 6055 people have been cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries so far to 5,38,713, he told reporters here.

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Vijayan said the state had witnessed a surge in positive cases during October, which has now decreased.

Idukki, Wayanad and Kottayam districts werereporting an increase in cases in the past few days, he said.

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The local body polls, to be held in three phases from December 8, are being heldin the backdrop of Covid.

Arrangements have been made for positive patients and those in quarantine to cast postal votes, Vijayan said.

Presently, 61,894 people are undergoing treatment for the disease and 3,11,770 are under observation in various districts, including 15,676 in hospitals.

In the last 24 hours, 34,689 samples have been tested and the test positivity rate has dipped to 9.75 per cent.

So far, 62,62,476 samples have been sent for testing, the Chief Minister said.

While Malappuram recorded 611 cases, Kozhikode 481, Ernakulam 317, Alappuzha 275 and Thrissur 250.

The hilly district of Idukki accounted for the least number of cases, 49.

Among those who succumbed to COVID-19 were two nonagenarians.

Of the positive cases, 64 had come from outside the state and 2,880 were infected through contact.

Presently, there are 504 hot spots, after addition of six areas and removal of 26.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)