Kerala COVID Surge: Situation Under Control, But State Running Out Of Vaccines, Says Health Minister Veena George | Earth Indian

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala, which is witnessing a sudden surge in coronavirus cases for the past few days will run out of vaccine stocks on Saturday, said health minister Veena George, adding that the situation in the state is under control. Notably, Kerala for the fourth day running recorded more than 20,000 fresh cases in the state with the test positivity rate (TPR) rising to 13.61 per cent and 116 more people succumbing to COVID-19. With fresh cases, the infection caseload in the state reached 33,70,137 and the 116 deaths pushed the total casualties to 16,701.

However, the health minister claimed that the severity of the viral disease is less as the demand for oxygen support, ICU beds in hospitals is minimum. Meanwhile, she highlighted the state’s acute shortage of vaccines, saying that two days ago, Kerala’s vaccine stock was zero but then the Centre provided us 9.73 lakh doses. But there will be no vaccine for the day after tomorrow as well, she added.

With an active caseload of 1.54 lakh as of the latest update, Kerala accounts for 37.1 per cent of the total active cases in the country.  The state has also reported a high case positivity of 12.93 per cent cumulatively and 11.97 per cent weekly. Some of the worst affected districts in the state are Malappuram (3670), Kozhikode (2470), Ernakulam (2306), Thrissur (2287), Palakkad (2070), Kollam (1415), Alappuzha (1214), Kannur (1123), Thiruvananthapuram (1082) and Kottayam (1030).

There are currently 4,56,951 people under surveillance in various districts of the state. Of these, 4,29,118 are in-home or institutional quarantine and 27,833 in hospitals.

As many as 14,651 people have been cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries to 31,92,104 and the number of active cases in the state to 1,60,824. In the last 24 hours, 1,52,639 samples were tested and the TPR was found to be 13.61 per cent.

By Shivam Urkude || Earth Indian