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Kerala remains nation's top Covid contributor, logs 12k cases for second straight day
The Union health ministry on Thursday said that Kerala tops the list of five states in India, which are reporting more than five lakh active Covid-19 cases.
Kerala witnessed a single-day rise of over 12,000 Covid-19 cases for the second day in a row and continued to contribute over half of the total cases being recorded across the country. The Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) said the state alone was contributing to 50.37 per cent of the active cases in the country.
Kerala reported 12,288 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours pushing the cumulative tally to 47,63,695, according to the state government’s health bulletin data.
Thursday’s figures, however, were marginally lower than that of Wednesday’s when Kerala reported 12,616 new cases. On Tuesday, the state had seen a significantly less number of fresh cases at 9,735.
Also, 141 people succumbed to the virus during the day pushing the total fatalities to 25,952.
Meanwhile, 15,808 people were declared cured from the disease on Thursday, thereby taking the cumulative number of recoveries to 46,18,408.
The government’s health bulletin data showed 93.1 per cent of Kerala’s eligible population (2,48,81,668) have been vaccinated with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, while 43.1 per cent (1,15,23,278) have been jabbed with both the shots till October 7.
The joint secretary of the Union health ministry, Lav Agarwal said five states in India were reporting more than five lakh active cases. Kerala topped the list by accounting for 1,22,996 cases, constituting 50.37 per cent of the total active caseload in the country. It was followed by Maharashtra (15.06 per cent), Tamil Nadu (6.81 per cent), Mizoram (6.58 per cent), and Karnataka (4.85 per cent).
“We need to control (the) spread of infection in these states,” Agarwal said while addressing a press briefing on India’s Covid-19 situation.
The Centre also said that 62 districts across 15 states and Union territories (UTs) in India have a high weekly Covid-19 positivity rate. A total of 23 districts of them have a rate between five per cent and 10 per cent, while there are 34 districts that have a weekly positivity rate of more than 10 per cent. Of these 62 districts, 14 are from Kerala – Kasaragod falls in the 23-district category, while as many as 13 districts fall in the 34-district category.
Despite India’s Covid-19 graph showing a dipping trend, Agarwal emphasised that people should not put their guard down as the challenge is not over yet.
