Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 21 (PTI) Daily COVID-19 cases in Kerala continued to drop further on Monday when 495 fresh infections were recorded thereby pushing the total infected to 65,27,689 till date.

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The southern State reported 24 deaths and took the tally to 67,363, according to an official press release.

Of the deaths, two occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 22 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 850 more people recovering from the virus since Sunday, the total recoveries reached 64,54,022 and the active cases dropped to 5,433, the release said.

As many as 15,561 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

Among the 14 districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest with 117 cases followed by Thiruvananthapuram (79) and Kottayam (68), the release said.

Of the new cases, five were those of health workers and 462 infected through contact with the source of it not being clear in 258, the release said.

There are 18,024 people now under surveillance in various districts, of whom 17,399 are in home or institutional quarantine and 625 in hospitals, it added.

(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)