Around 35 per cent of Covid infections in Kerala have their origin in the houses, Kerala health minister Veena George said in Thursday as the state once again recorded over 30,000 fresh infections in the last 24 hours. The surge has triggered a political tug of war with the BJP blaming the Vijayan government's carelessness for the surge and the government defending its Covid mechanism.
Kerala on Thursday reported 30,007 fresh infections, slightly lower than yesterday's 31,445 but the tally is still over 30,000. Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed the Covid situation of the state and asked the authorities to take immediate steps to contain the situation. Kerala health minister Veena George said the spread is mostly taking in home quarantine as people in home quarantine are violating rules. The minister said that a study has recently revealed that 35 per cent of people in the state were found to have been infected with the disease from home. While home quarantine means infected people should isolate themselves from family members as well, the present situation is that people are getting infected from other people in the family, the health minister said.
The health minister said that many people are opting for home quarantine, a point the central team has also highlighted in its recent report investigating the surge of the Covid infection in the state. Veena George said n Thursday that those who have the required facilities at houses should prefer home quarantine and others should shift to domiciliary Covid-care centres.
{{/usCountry}}The health minister said that many people are opting for home quarantine, a point the central team has also highlighted in its recent report investigating the surge of the Covid infection in the state. Veena George said n Thursday that those who have the required facilities at houses should prefer home quarantine and others should shift to domiciliary Covid-care centres.
{{/usCountry}}Kerala is the only state in the country reporting over one lakh active Covid-19 cases. While the post-Onam spike is not unexpected, the sudden jump from 24,000 something to over 30,000 cases per day has been worrying. The Union health ministry on Thursday said India is still fighting the second wave of the pandemic and post-festival spike has become a norm in the country.
"We are still in the midst of the second surge of COVID-19 in our country. The second surge has not yet concluded. It is not over and therefore, we have to maintain all necessary precautions, particularly in light of our experience that after every festival we see a spike. The coming months of September and October are crucial for us because we would be celebrating a few festivals. Thus festivals have to be celebrated with Covid-appropriate behaviour," Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.
(With agency inputs)