Amidst the rapid pace of corona infection, the Kerala government has started a campaign to conduct about four lakh tests in two days in the state. Health Minister Veena George said that on Thursday and Friday, 3.75 lakh tests would be done in Kerala. Its purpose is to identify and isolate as many infected as possible. This step has been taken on such an occasion when the positivity rate in the state has remained consistently above 10 per cent.
A containment strategy will be prepared based on test results.
Under the new testing strategy, 1.25 lakh tests will be done on Thursday and 2.5 lakh on Friday. In the identified areas, these tests will be done on people who are most at risk of the epidemic, including people with hypertension and diabetes, showing symptoms like COVID. Further containment strategy will be prepared based on the test results. Apart from this, those above 45 years of age who have not been vaccinated will also be tested.
The pace of infection remains fast in Kerala
Despite the slowdown in infection in other states of the country, it remains fast in Kerala. For the past several days, Kerala has been recording the country’s highest number of daily cases. In terms of total patients, Kerala remains the second most affected state in the country after Maharashtra. Experts are also not unanimous on the reason for the fast pace of the epidemic in Kerala. The good news is that the death rate is low here.
In Kerala, 15,637 new cases of COVID were reported on the previous day, and 128 patients died. With this, the total number of infected people has gone up to 31,03,310. Of these, 1,17,708 are active cases, and 14,938 people have died. On Wednesday, the positivity rate was recorded here at 10.03 per cent. This means that the infection is being confirmed in more than 10 out of 100 samples tested.
The biggest concern is that the vaccination does not seem to affect the daily cases in Kerala. About 45 per cent of the state’s population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 10 per cent of the population has received both. Right now, the situation in Kerala is exactly like January. Even then, cases were decreasing all over the country, but Kerala was reporting a higher number of cases.
Experts advised reviewing the policy of lockdown
Expressing concern over this situation, experts had last week asked the state government to reconsider the policy of lockdown and unlock.
Dr Anoop Kumar, a member of the state government’s COVID advisory committee, said, “The lockdowns on Saturdays and Sundays and time restrictions seem to be creating a negative impact and is resulting in crowding. We need to urgently consider the whole issue of lockdown as well as relaxations in a more scientific manner”.