Kerala records over 20,000 fresh cases for fourth straight day; health minister says situation under control

Thiruvananthapuram: The Covid scenario in Kerala continues to be alarming as the state on Friday saw 20,772 new Covid cases, recording over 20,000 infections for the fourth straight day. The state's test positivity rate (TPR) rose to 13.61 per cent. Up to 116 people died of the disease.

Its caseload touched 33,70,137 while fatalities hit 16,701, according to a government release on Friday.

Some of the worst-hit districts were Malappuram (3,670 cases), Kozhikode (2,470), Ernakulam (2,306), Thrissur (2,287), Palakkad (2,070), Kollam (1,415), Alappuzha (1,214), Kannur (1,123), Thiruvananthapuram (1,082), and Kottayam (1030), PTI reported.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George has said the state's Covid numbers were not unexpected. A similar trend was seen in the first wave, too, she said last week and termed the phenomenon "dragging the wave".

With more than 50 per cent of its population still not infected, the current Covid trend was always expected in the state, given its peculiar characteristics, the Health Minister said on Friday. What is being seen now, she reiterated, was a result of a well-planned strategy to handle the pandemic.

Citing a number of parameters that indicate "our defensive measures were very good", Ms George said the focus right now is on vaccines, something the state is running out of quickly.

"The situation in Kerala is absolutely under control. How do you anaylse this? Look at the data on occupancy in hospitals. It is less for hospitals, for ICU beds, and even in demand for oxygen support. It means the severity of the disease is less," Ms George told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

In a statement issued on Friday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said 20,772 people turned positive after 1,52,639 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.

The test positivity rate was 13.61 per cent, while the total number of active cases was 1,60,824.

Incidentally all these basic indicators for the past few days have been showing that Kerala is leading in all the respects, and a special health team from Delhi has arrived in the state and will now split into two and travel around to find out how best things can be contained.

Friday also saw 115 new deaths, taking the death toll to 16,701.

Meanwhile with the state observing lockdown based on the TPR, there were 323 local bodies with a TPR of above 15 per cent, while in 355, it is between 10 to 15 per cent, in 294, between 5 to 10 per cent and in 62, it was below 5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the health minister highlighted the state's acute shortage of vaccines, saying that two days ago, Kerala's vaccine stock was zero but then the Centre provided us 9.73 lakh doses. But there will be no vaccine for the day after tomorrow as well, she added.