Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 23 (IANS): There seems to be no relief in the number of daily Covid-19 cases in Kerala with as many as 6,960 persons testing positive for the dreaded disease on Saturday, a release issued by the office of state Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said.

On a positive note, 5,283 persons recovered from the disease on Saturday. Kerala has tested 61,066 samples in the past 24 hours with a test positivity rate of 11.40 per cent.

Ernakulam district reported the maximum number of cases on Saturday at 1,083, while Kasargod reported the least number of cases at 87.

Meanwhile, 23 persons succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours, taking the state's overall Covid death toll to 3,587.

Of those who tested positive on Saturday, 73 persons came from outside the state, while 6,339 persons turned positive through contact.

As many as 49 health workers tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, 16 in Kannur, followed by Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Wayanad (6 each), Ernakulam (5), Kollam and Pathanamthitta (3 each), Palakkad (2), and Idukki and Kozhikode (1 each).

At present, 2,11,824 people are under observation at various places in the state, including 11,935 at different hospitals across the state.

With the addition of three new hotspots -- Thanitthode in Pathanamthitta, Ambalappara in Palakkad and Mullankolli in Wayanad -- the number of hotspots in Kerala has gone up to 407.