Kerala clocks over 30,000 Covid cases for third day in a row

Kerala on Thursday recorded 30,007 with the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) rate at18.03%. A day before, the state saw a sudden spike in fresh cases with 31,445 people testing positive and 215 deaths. The TPR had jumped to 19.03% from 18.04% on Tuesday.

Facing criticism from some sections, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan defended state’s strategy to contain the virus. “If Kerala model is wrong in Covid containment, then which model should we follow? No one had died in Kerala due to a lack of oxygen. No person was deprived of medical aid or medical bed,” he wrote in his article in CPI(M) party magazine ‘Chintha’. 

Vijayan said that some people were trying to neglect facts and deliberately creating confusion. “There are some unnecessary controversies surrounding second wave. Some sections are trying to create fear among people by portraying the high numbers during the second wave as a cause of concern,” he said. 

The chief minister referred to three sero-prevalance studies conducted in the country, and said that survey found that Kerala was the state with the least percentage of the population infected. “We did not waste a single drop of vaccine and successfully inoculated extra doses.” he added. 

On Thursday, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla reviewed the situation in Kerala and Maharashtra. He observed that more efforts would be required to arrest the increase in infections. He also suggested that the state governments should explore the possibility of placing night curfew in areas of high positivity.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, too, expressed concern at the rising cases in Kerala. He said out of the total 46,000 new Covid cases detected across the country on Thursday, 58% were from Kerala. He further said that 58.4% of the total new infections recorded last week came from the southern state.

“Kerala has more than 1 lakh active cases. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases,” said the health secretary.

Bhushan said the months of September and October will be crucial in pandemic management and cautioned that festivals should be celebrated in accordance with Covid-appropriate behaviour. “We are still in the midst of the second surge of Covid-19 in our country. The second surge has not yet concluded. It is not over and therefore, we have to maintain all necessary precautions, particularly in light of our experience that after every festival we see a spike,” he added.