The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases and related deaths in Kerala may have been rising from the last week of May and early June, but a saving grace has been the recovery rate, which has also improved. The number of active cases flattened during May 3-11, but have since risen gradually.

The number of positive cases has consolidated and grown exponentially after people started returning home in hordes via air, land and sea from red zones/ affected areas within the country as well as from abroad after the lockdown was eased. The number of confirmed cases peaked to a single-day high of 111 on June 5.

Fatal co-morbidities

The death toll, which was contained within the single digits until May 22, entered double digits (18 as on date) after returnees with co-morbidities began to succumb. Uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, kidney ailments and even cancer have been the main triggers.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said 83 new cases were detected on Thursday, but as many as 62 patients under treatment had recovered. This compared with the respective figures of 65(57), 91(34), 91(11), 107(41), 108 (50), 111 (22), 94 (39), 82(24), 86(19) and 57(18) dating back to June 1.

Of the 83 persons testing positive on Thursday, 27 had returned from abroad (11 from the UAE; four each from Oman and Nigeria; three from Kuwait; two each from Saudi Arabia and Russia; one from Djibouti); 37 had come back from other states; and 14 were infected via primary contact.

Testing numbers up

As of Thursday, a total of 2,18,949 people were under observation in various districts of the state. Of these, 2,17,027 were under house or institutional quarantine and 1,922 were in hospitals. Thursday alone saw 231 people being admitted to hospitals in various districts.

The state has scaled up testing in recent times with the per-million number reading 3,871) on Thursday. A total of 1,03,757 samples were sent for testing and the results of 2,873 samples are awaited. In addition, 27,118 samples from high-risk groups were tested, of which 25,757 samples have proved negative.

Lags behind peers

As per statistics available on covid19india.org, Kerala lags far behind most of its peers in testing – both absolute and per-million (1.36 lakh and 3,871). Some of these are Tamil Nadu-6.5 lakh (8,662); Maharashtra-6.1 lakh (5,000); Rajasthan-5.58 lakh (7,223); Andhra Pradesh-5.1 lakh (9,772); Karnataka- 4.16 lakh (6,330); West Bengal-3.07 lakh (3,167); Gujarat-2.73 lakh (4,017); Delhi-2.71 lakh (1,703); Jammu & Kashmir-2.47 lakh (18,728); Odisha-1.85 lakh (4,246); Punjab-1.54 lakh (5,174); Bihar-1.13 lakh (947); Jharkhand-99,931 (2,672); Chhattisgarh-96,230 (3,350); and Goa-37,858 (24,583).

But the Covid-19 mortality rate (0.85 per cent) is one of the lowest in Kerala. It follows leader Goa-0 per cent; Odisha-0.37 per cent; Chhattisgarh-0.43 per cent; Jharkhand-0.50 per cent; and Bihar-0.57 per cent; and is ranked above Tamil Nadu-0.9 per cent; Karnataka-1.15 per cent; Jammu & Kashmir-1.14 per cent; Andhra Pradesh-1.47 per cent; Punjab-2.04 per cent; Rajasthan-2.25 per cent; Delhi-3.13 per cent; Maharashtra-3.68 per cent; West Bengal-4.52 per cent; and Gujarat-6.28 per cent.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW