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Test positivity rate (TPR) remained more or less unchanged in Kerala on Wednesday at 18.76 per cent (18.86 per cent on Tuesday) as the State saw daily new Covid cases surge to 32,803 (30,203) after 1,74,854 (1,60,152) samples were tested on Wednesday. Number of deaths came in at 173 (115).
These details poured in the evening as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met with top virologists, health experts and health economists, public health activists and Covid medical practitioners to discuss ways to fine-tune the State’s Covid defence strategy after the post-Onam surge. This would be followed by a meeting on Thursday with the top honchos of the local self-government bodies in the State.
Pivot shifting South
Health Department sources say that the R value, reproduction of Covid-19 indicating the disease’s ability to spread, is gradually rising in the southern districts of Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. Prior warnings had been issued to the district authorities.
Kollam had 2,663 cases on Wednesday while Thiruvananthapuram had 2,579. But Thrissur (4,425) and Ernakulam (4,324) continued to hover at the top of the table. They were followed by Kozhikode (3,251); Malappuram (3,099); Palakkad (2,309); and Kottayam (2,263) in the above-2,000 category.
Number of recoveries was 21,610 (20,687 on Tuesday), and the gap with the daily new cases of 32,803 meant that as many as 32,705 persons continued to be admitted in hospitals on Wednesday. This was reflected also in the size of actual case pool at 2,29,912 (2,18,892) that the State is burdened with.
Peak projected this month
The State Health Department projects that the pandemic may peak-out by mid-September when it likely settles down to a prolonged plateau. Earlier, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington too had said that the situation may come under control by month-end.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the number of wards with the Weekly Infection Population Ration (WIPR) threshold of seven per cent moved up to 296 (215 on Tuesday). These wards invite a triple lockdown and associated restrictions, with only essential services and shops allowed to operate till 7 pm.
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