Kerala’s early gains during Covid-19 crisis have been reversed considerably as it looks at crossing 10,000 cases by the third week of July. B Ekbal, member of Kerala’s State Planning Board said that the State is staring at the third stage of the pandemic, as cases resurface.
In March, cases had spiked by from three positive cases on the first to 202 on March 30. Only up to 19 persons, up to 9.4 per cent patients had recovered by March-end. In April, Kerala made huge strides in containing the pandemic. By April 1 it had reported 241 cases which swelled to 496, up to 106 per cent rise, by April 30. But up to 74 per cent or 369 infected had recovered by then, according to the data reported by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Ekbal stated that repatriation of locals has led to a drastic increase in the Covid-19 cases again in subsequent months. “While until May 4, we had under 500 cases in total since the pandemic began, now we are reporting up to 600 cases every day. By this measure we will cross 10,000 cases in a day or two,” he said.
Kerala had reported a total of 497 cases till May 1 which rose to 1,208 cases until the end of the month, by May 31, an increase of 143 per cent. From the previous month’s recovery rate of 74 per cent, the recovery rate in May dropped to 48 per cent as only 575 patients recovered.
In June, the monthly rise in cases was even higher. 1,269 cumulative cases reported till June 1 rose to 4,189 cases by June 30, an increase of 230 per cent. Of these 51 per cent or 2,152 had recovered.
“As locals return from hotspots like Delhi, Maharashtra as well as international destinations like UAE, the case positivity rate in Kerala is increasing,” Ekbal said.
While June saw the largest monthly increase in cases after April, July too is showing similar trends.
From 4,442 cases recorded until July 1 the cases have risen to 9,553 by July 16, an increase of 115 per cent. Of 9,553 cases, only 4,634 or 48 per cent have recovered while another 35 have died.
India’s recovery rate stands at close to 63 per cent, while Kerala’s recovery rate has dropped beneath the national average.