The death toll in Kerala due to the Covid-19 pandemic breached the psychological barrier of 1,000 on Sunday in a torrent of unpropitious related developments, including the continued surge in daily new numbers at a national high on Saturday as well as a high test positivity ratio of above 17 per cent.

“We have merely managed to delay the inevitable,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan observed in the evening update on Saturday referring to the surge in daily new cases and high positivity ratio, while adding that the state may not have reached the peak just yet.

Paying for grave laxity

The Chief Minister said that the state is paying for the grave laxity in observing Covid-19 protocols, as was widely noticed in the wake of the Onam festivities leading to unrestricted crowding and scant regard for adherence to mandatory social distancing norms.

He also said that the high test positivity ratio meant that the state is still some distance away from the peak. The state has entered into a make-or-break phase, and a soft landing beyond cannot be possible without cooperation from one and all. Section 144 CrPC provisions are in force in the state until the month-end.

Death toll at 1,004

The death toll crossed the 1,000 mark; it now stands at 1,004, with 25 more deaths added to the official list on Sunday and one on Monday morning. The only glimmer of hope in an avalanche of bad news otherwise continues to be the very low case fatality ratio of 0.3 per cent.

The active ratio continues to be a high 33.3 per cent (as many as 33 for every 100 are infected); confirmed cases per million is 8,233.5 (5,341.2 all-India); recovery ratio is at a reasonable 66.6 per cent but low compared to neighbouring states; and average growth rate at 3.3 per cent.

Biggest single-day surge

The 11,755 new cases recorded on Saturday was the biggest single-day surge, surpassing those of Maharashtra and Karnataka, which have been the ones reporting high caseloads till now. This was quite a mark-up for Kerala, which had just one Covid-19 case on May 8.

On Sunday, the state had reported 9,347 fresh cases when 61,629 samples were tested during the past 24 hours ending in the morning, taking the cumulative case load on Monday morning to 2,89,2023 cases with one being added to the previous day’s tally.

The State also registered the highest number of recoveries in a single day on Sunday, with 8,924 patients being discharged from hospitals. The total recoveries as of Monday morning stood at 1,91,798, unchanged from the previous evening. Close to 35 lakh persons have been tested for the virus till date.

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