As India continues to report fewer than 15,000 daily Covid-19 cases, Kerala is currently leading the charge as it recorded 6,753 Covid-19 cases on Friday.
Kerala contributed nearly 47% of India's daily case on Friday. The percentage is quite alarming. The State’s Test Positivity Rate was 11.63%. The public is asking questions time and again as to why Kerala’s Covid-19 cases rising daily.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, other States were recording around 1,000 cases daily. At the same time, Kerala was reporting single-digit cases as the state government took every measure to make sure the virus does not spread. News channels were hailing the Kerala model. However, now, not one channel speaks of the Kerala model as other states are recording less than 1,000 daily cases excluding Maharashtra as it recorded 2,779.
Ernakulam district in Kerala recorded over 1,000 cases on Friday. The public are shocked to see that one district in a state alone recorded 1,000 cases which is more than Chhattisgarh (440) and West Bengal (406) recorded on the same day.
The top six states with the highest daily cases on Friday are Kerala (6,753), Maharasthra (2,779), Tamil Nadu (574), Gujarat (451), Chhattisgarh (440) and West Bengal (406).
In Kerala, districts of Ernakulam (1,018), Kozhikode (740), Pathanamthitta (624), Malappuram (582) and Kottayam (581) recorded more Covid-19 cases than Tamil Nadu who recorded the third-highest number of daily cases among all States on Friday.
The condition in Kerala seems far from worse. Reportedly, as on January 19, Kerala has 34.22% of Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment. Seeing the situation in Kerala, the Centre rushed a team of experts to analyze the Covid-19 crisis. As mentioned above, when other states were going through a high number of Covid-19 cases, Kerala was recording just a handful, but, when the State began opening up, Covid cases began to increase with many Non-Resident Keralites’ returning to Kerala.
State Health Minister KK Shailaja informed the public late last year that Kerala will be witnessing a spike in cases due to the local body elections in Kerala in December, followed by Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Experts also believe the rise in Covid-19 cases in Kerala is because of the influx of people from other States and Countries. After the national lockdown was relaxed, many people from other States were travelling to Kerala by road as the State had the least amount of cases around August last year. The very next month, the State started recording large numbers of daily Covid-19 cases. Also, most of Kerala’s cases are through contacts. Kerala has a large number of residents above 60 years who are in the high-risk category.
Recently, a leading English daily reported that according to medical experts, vaccination for the general public in Kerala is likely to begin after Onam this year. This is not good as the number of cases is increasing in the State by leaps and bounds. Moreover, the State will be going into Assembly polls in April. If the local body elections are leading to a spike in Covid cases, imagine what the situation will be in Kerala during the Assembly elections.
Surprisingly, since the results of the local body elections were released, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has not been conducting his daily press conference. Although the health minister stated the situation in Kerala is under control, it doesn’t seem so. Shailaja continues to ask the public to keep following the state government issued Covid-19 guidelines.
Meanwhile, The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized Rajasthan as the most efficient State in India for Covid-19 vaccination, state government officials said on Friday.
During a review meeting by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, representatives of WHO shared a presentation in which Rajasthan was the only State to rank green in five categories necessary to start a successful vaccination drive, health secretary Siddharth Mahajan said.
