A day after Kerala announced a series of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus; the state reported another hike on Friday with 6,268 new Covid-19 cases and a test positivity rate of 10.66 per cent while the national average is 2.5%.
According to the health ministry, the state also reported 22 deaths taking the death toll to 3,704. The active caseload is 72,239 and 48 health workers are among those infected. Ernakulam and Kozhikode districts reported the maximum number of virus cases, the health ministry said.
Most of those infected contracted the disease locally and it clearly indicates community transmission is quite rampant in the state, statistics show. The number of critically ill patients being treated in ICUs in various hospitals across the state is 809.
The worried government had launched a campaign called “Back to Basics” on Thursday to encourage people to revert to the initial days of the pandemic when they were more cautious about the outbreak and followed rules in letter and spirit.
Going by the latest statistics about 40 per cent of the country’s total viral caseload is from the southern state and the TPR is more than four times of the national average. In the wake of the unusual surge, the government has also decided to increase the number of tests and give more preference to RT-PCR tests. Statistics show more than 60 per cent of the total tests are antigen. So far the state has done 95,18,036 tests but the number is low when compared to neighbouring states where it crossed 15 million.
{{/usCountry}}Going by the latest statistics about 40 per cent of the country’s total viral caseload is from the southern state and the TPR is more than four times of the national average. In the wake of the unusual surge, the government has also decided to increase the number of tests and give more preference to RT-PCR tests. Statistics show more than 60 per cent of the total tests are antigen. So far the state has done 95,18,036 tests but the number is low when compared to neighbouring states where it crossed 15 million.
{{/usCountry}}With Covid-19 cases surging, the opposition has trained its gun on the government. “Health Minister K K Shailaja should quit owning responsibility. She was giving a wrong picture throughout and now she blames the density of population for the surge,” said Congress leader Benny Behnan MP. When contacted the minister refused to react.