Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 17 (PTI) Kerala logged 23,260 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the total affected in the state to 44,69,488, while 131 fatalities took the toll to 23,296. The total number of those cured was 20,388, taking the overall number to 42,56,697. Thrissur reported the highest number of cases --4,013, followed by Ernakulam with 3,143 and Kozhikode with 2,095 cases, health minister Veena George said. Active cases in the state stood at 1,88,926, of whom only 12.8 per cent were admitted to hospitals, she said, but did not give the Test Positivity Rate. "Out of those found infected on Friday, 159 reached the state from outside while 21,983 contracted the disease through their contacts. The sources of infection of 998 are yet to be traced. 120 health workers are also among the infected," the minister said in a release. There are 5,37,823 persons under observation in the state, of whom 26,363 are in isolation wards of various hospitals. The Minister said 1,28,817 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and added that there are 2,507 wards across 678 local self government bodies where the weekly infection population ratio was above eight per cent. PTI RRT APR APR