Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 17 (PTI) The number of daily COVID-19 cases continued to rise sharply in Kerala with the state reporting 22,946 fresh infections on Monday taking the total caseload to 53,92,652, a health bulletin said. The state Health Department said the growth rate of new virus cases has shot up by 182 per cent compared to the number of cases reported in the previous week (January 10 and 16). The toll in the state touched 50,904 with 72 virus-related deaths, it said. Among the new deaths, 18 were recorded over the last few days and 54 designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court. "Currently, there are 1,21,458 active COVID-19 cases in the state out of which only 3.7 per cent require hospitalisation," the state government said in a press release. Among the districts, Thiruvananthapuram recorded 5,863 cases, the highest in the state, followed by Ernakulam with 4,100 cases and Kozhikode with 2,043 cases. The state had tested 69,373 samples in the last 24 hours. Out of those found infected, 181 reached the state from outside while 22,179 contracted the disease from their contacts. The source of infection of 442 is yet to be traced. Meanwhile, 5,280 persons recuperated from the disease on Monday taking the total recoveries in the state to 52,28,710. PTI TGB TGB HDA HDA