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Kerala denies high breakthrough Covid infections cited by Centre
The Union health ministry said the country had reported over 100,000 breakthrough cases, of which Kerala’s share was 40,000.
Thiruvananthapuram:
Grappling with a high Covid-19 caseload and test positivity rate for more than two months, Kerala has started a study on breakthrough infections and re-infections, even as the state health department has rejected the Centre’s numbers on breakthrough infections.
A breakthrough case refers to a fully vaccinated person getting infected again and re-infection means a completely recovered individual contracting the coronavirus again.
The state health department said while the Union health ministry quoted 40,000 breakthrough infections in Kerala, according to its rough estimate, the numbers will be between 5,000 and 6,000 -- among them 40% are frontline workers, including health and police personnel.
“We have no idea about 40,000 cases as mentioned by the Union health ministry. Our estimate is less than 0.1%, which means around 5000-5500 breakthrough cases,” said a senior health official who did not want to be named.
The Union health ministry said the country had reported over 100,000 breakthrough cases, of which Kerala’s share was 40,000. Later, a central team visiting the state earlier this month also confirmed high incidences of breakthrough cases in Kerala. They said Pathanamthitta district alone reported more than 7,000 breakthrough cases.
But district medical officer Dr A L Sheeja refuted these statistics. “Only 258 such cases reported in the district. I have no idea how they got such large numbers,” she said. “Pathanamthitta is one of the least affected districts. All cases have been closely monitored and there was no chance of such huge numbers.”
Earlier, health minister Veena George, hailing from the same district, also denied a spike in breakthrough infections in Pathanamthitta.
The health department has sent samples of all breakthrough infections for genome sequencing to rule out the possibility of a new variant. Though experts suspected a new variant behind the steady rise of cases in the state, the Indian Council of Medical Research is yet to confirm it. For almost two months, the state has been reporting more than half the national caseload.
On Thursday the state reported 21,445 cases with a test positivity rate of 14.73 % when 1,45, 582 samples were tested. It also reported 160 deaths and active cases stand at 1,76,518, according to the state health ministry. On Tuesday, TPR -- the number of tests returning positive out of total tests done -- was 15.91%, highest in three months.
Among breakthrough infections, health workers form a large chunk. Twenty-four-year-old nursing officer Gokul MG, who works with a medical college hospital in Thiruvananthpauram, was down with Covid-19 twice, first in August and second in November, still he prefers to work at the Covid ICU. “How can I rest when people need me the most,” said Gokul, who received two jabs in the initial days of inoculation drive.
He says many health workers like him were infected more than twice. But they all said intensity of the infection was very low and at times it was asymptomatic. Now the health department has asked all workers who come in contact with patients to undergo regular antigen or RT-PCR tests.
The central team, which visited the eight worst-affected districts, found that high density of population, prevalence of highly infectious Delta virus and laxity in home quarantine are main reasons for high caseload in the state.
Kerala also has a high population of elderly people and prevalence of lifestyle diseases also quite high, medical records show.
The central team also found flaws in protocols and home isolation. In districts like Malappuram and Kozhikode, family size is huge and the infected people easily pass the virus to others, it said. Though in home isolation, the infected should have a separate washroom and nobody should be allowed to enter his/her quarantine room, the team found that these measures were seldom met. This led to increased transmission within homes and formation of small clusters.
Amid the Covid surge in Kerala, Onam festival, a week away, is a worry for the health department. Though large gatherings and celebrations are banned, many experts fear that the festive occasion could be a triggering factor.
According to the state health ministry, 2,24,29,007 people were given vaccination till Wednesday -- 1,58,68, 802 (45.5% of the state’s population) have been administered the first dose and 64,60,205 (18.41%) both the doses. At least, 800,000 more doses reached the state on Thursday, officials said.
