E-Paper
Kerala’s daily Covid-19 cases close to 42,000; CM Pinarayi Vijayan writes to Centre
On Wednesday, the state reported 41,953 new cases with a test positivity rate of 25.69%. Though its fatality rate is the lowest in the country (below 0.4%) statistics show it is also climbing steadily in the last one week--58 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
With Covid-19 cases surging and hospitals overflowing with patients in Kerala, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking additional liquid medical oxygen cylinders and vaccines.
In terms of total cases of the viral infection, Kerala is at the third spot after Maharashtra and Karnataka. On Wednesday, the state reported 41,953 new cases with a test positivity rate of 25.69%. Though its fatality rate is the lowest in the country (below 0.4%) statistics show it is also climbing steadily in the last one week--58 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
“We are going through a serious phase of the pandemic. Rising number of cases and TPR shows we have to tighten curbs further. We have asked private hospitals to strictly follow the health ministry’s admission norms,” said the CM addressing the media virtually. He said he sent a letter to Prime Minister Modi seeking more help to tide over the crisis.
The chief minister said hostels, lodges and empty offices will be converted as first line treatment centres to meet the surge of patients. To avoid overcrowding of hospitals, he said, admission norms were being tweaked and only cases that need urgent medical care will be admitted. He also sought the help of NRIs-- the state has about 25 lakh people working abroad and 70 per cent of them are in West Asian countries.
In his letter to the PM, Vijayan said medical oxygen storage in the state should be augmented urgently as there is an increased demand for life-saving medical gas. “To augment storage we need 1000 tonnes of imported liquid medical oxygen. The Ministry of External Affairs may be advised to allot required quantity partly from the current tranche of imports and balance from future imports,” he said.
He also asked the PM to provide more oxygen concentrators, ventilators and other equipment on priority basis considering the high volume of cases. This is the first time the state has appealed to the Centre frantically.
Kerala has so far vaccinated 74 lakh people, almost 20 per cent of its 3.25 crore population. The Union Health Ministry and PM had recently lauded its zero wastage of vaccines while in some states it is between 5 and 18 per cent. The CM has also requested the PM to send more vaccines--- 50 lakh doses of Covishield and 25 lakh Covaxin doses.
Currently the state has a stock of 272.2 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen and it needs 108 mt of oxygen daily, health ministry statistics show. The government has also decided to deploy trainee doctors and nursing students to meet the shortage of medical staff and set up oxygen plants on war-footing.
