As Kerala witnesses over 30,000 COVID-19 cases for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was on the defensive, said the mortality rate in the state was lower than that of the country and the latest sero prevalance report also showed less percentage of people getting affected by coronavirus. The chief minister said, “During a pandemic the most important factor is to reduce the deaths. In Kerala, the mortality rate is 0.51 per cent whereas the national mortality rate is 1.34 per cent.”
He further went on to cite the sero prevalance survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) to show that Kerala was faring well as compared to other states such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar and UP among others. The sero prevalence studies are conducted to get the evidence of past exposure to the virus and to know the spread of infection in the population.
“According to the latest sero prevalence survey only 44.4 per cent of the people in Kerala have contracted the virus. This shows we were successful in controlling the virus from affecting more people . At the national level 66.7 per cent have got the virus,” said Vijayan.
In the survey Madhya Pradesh had shown 79 per cent of sero prevalance, Rajasthan showed 76.2 per cent, Bihar stood at 75.9 per cent, Gujarat was at 75.3 per cent, UP showed 71 per cent, Karnataka showed 69.8 per cent, Tamil Nadu stood at 69.2 per cent while in Punjab, 66 per cent contracted the disease .
“When you look at the statistics, it shows that the preventive measures taken by the state have worked,” he claimed.
The total COVID-19 caseload in Kerala reached 39,77,572 on Saturday, while the Test Positivity rate dipped to 18.67 per cent from 19.22 on August 27. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state reported 31,265 cases and 153 deaths, taking the toll to 20,466. He told reporters that 1,67,497 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and 353 wards in 70 local self government bodies recorded a weekly infection population ratio above eight per cent.
“Out of those found infected, 120 people reached the state from outside, while 29,891 contracted the disease from their contacts. The sources of infection of 1,158 are yet to be traced. Among those infected are 96 health workers ” a health department release said.
Recoveries for the day numbered, taking the total cured in the state to 37,51,666. Currently, there are 2,04,896 people under treatment. Among the districts, Thrissur reported the highest number of cases 3,957, followed by Ernakulam with 3,807 and Kozhikode 3,292.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla had reviewed the situation with top officials on Thursday and the steps taken to contain the alarming graph of the virus in the state. The central government had said that Kerala is the only state reporting over one lakh covic-19 cases, while four states have 10,000 to one lakh active cases and 31, less than 10,000 active cases.
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