Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 8 (IANS): As many as 5,142 new coronavirus cases were reported in Kerala on Friday even as 5,325 more COVID-19 patients recovered, Health Minister KK Shailaja's office said.

As many as 64,236 corona patients are under treatment in Kerala, the official release said.

As many as 59,569 samples were tested in the past 24 hours. The positivity rate is 8.63 per cent.

Ernakulam district reported the highest 708 new cases and Kasargod lowest 65 cases.

Three UK returnees tested positive on Friday, taking such cases in Kerala to 50. The samples of corona positive UK returnees were sent to the National Institute of Virology at Pune in Maharashtra for further tests, of which six were found infected with new virus strain.

Kerala's COVID-19 death toll increased to 3,257 with 23 more fatalities on Friday.

Of those who tested positive, 88 have come from outside the state whereas 4,563 persons got infected through contact. The sources of contact of 424 persons are not clear.

A total of 67 health workers also tested positive on Friday, including 20 in Pathanamthitta, 10 in Ernakulam, six each in Kollam and Thrissur, five each in Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kannur, four each in Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod, one each in Idukki and Wayanad.

As many as 1,98,270 people are now under observation in various district, including 1,87,104 persons in home or institutional quarantine and 11,166 in various hospitals.

New hotspots -- Mattathur in Thrissur (Cantonment Zone, ward 9), Malayalapuzha in Pathanamthitta, and Thottapuzhassery (Sub-ward 1, 2 and 6) -- took the total hotspots in Kerala to 440.