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Kerala MLA dies of Covid-19 complications, 4 state legislators test positive
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the death of party lawmaker. Vijayadas was elected to assembly twice, 2011 and 2016.
Kerala MLA KV Vijayadas passed away on Monday due to Covid-19 complications. The 61-year-old CPI(M) legislator from Konghad in Palakkad died at Thrissur medical college hospital. The hospital said he was admitted two weeks ago and later tested negative. But post-Covid complications triggered a stroke and he was put on life support for the last few days. Vijayadas was also a member of CPI(M) Palakkad district committee.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the death of party lawmaker. Vijayadas was elected to assembly twice, 2011 and 2016.
Meanwhile, four legislators have tested positive in Kerala during the ongoing budget session even as the state continues to report high incidences of Covid-19 in last two weeks. On Monday the test positivity rate (TPR) went up to 10.11 per cent as Kerala reported 3,346 new cases of the viral disease.
The assembly session was originally scheduled till January 28 but it was cut short to January 22 due to the prevailing pandemic situation. Many legislators have approached Speaker P Sivaramakrishnan to reduce it further but he told them that he has to complete budget discussion and other formalities.
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Once lauded for its Covid-19 control measures, Kerala witnessed a spike in Covid-19 cases since last month. Kerala and Maharashtra now report one-third of active Covid-19 cases in the country, statistics show. Worried, two weeks back the Union Health Ministry rushed an expert team to the state.
In view of the rising caseload, the state has sought more vials of vaccine. When the country’s TPR since January 1 is between 4 and 5 per cent, in Kerala, it ranges between 9 and 10 per cent. The state health department, however, put up a brave face saying the state managed to delay the peak and controlled death rate (0.4 against the national average of 1.40) considerably. Now, the state has 68,399 active cases and has reported 3,480 Covid-19 fatalities so far.
