Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 12 (IANS): The number of Covid positive cases continue to rise in Kerala with 78 people turning positive for coronavirus on Friday.

A 71-year-old man, who came from Mumbai on June 9 and died at Kannur on Thursday, was also found turned positive when his result came on Friday. He was under treatment and was a cardiac patient besides having breathing problems.

With this, the Covid death toll in the state reached 19.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a Facebook post, said that at present, there are 1,303 people who are positive while 999 who have now been cured of the disease.

He said that among the 78 new cases, 36 came from abroad, 31 were from within the country, while the rest were locals.

As on date, 2,27,402 people are under observation at homes, corona care centres and 1,985 of them are in hospitals across the state.

While 14 hotspots was excluded and nine fresh ones added, the total number of hotspots in the state was 128.