Kerala’s Department of Health diagnosed 20,772 new patients with Covid-19 from 1.52 lakh samples tested on Friday. The average Test Positivity Rate stood at 13.61 per cent while the pandemic claimed 116 lives. This took the death toll till date to 16,701.
Malappuram district continued to be the hotbed of Covid-19 as 3,526 persons tested positive. There are 323 regions in the State with TPR of 15 per cent and above.
The total number of Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment in various hospitals across the State crossed 1.6 lakh by Friday evening.
Health Minister Veena George in a late night release on Thursday had said that the next three weeks would be critical and crucial as far as Kerala was concerned. Despite the high number of patients diagnosed in the State on a daily basis, Keala continues to be the role model for the rest of the country because of its systematic pandemic management programme,” said George.
The Minister said the team of experts deputed by the Union Government for taking stock of the situation in Kerala has expressed happiness over the Covid-19 management system in the State. “It is the Delta Virus that is behind the spurt in the number of Covid-19 cases in the State. The great work done by the Department of Health has succeeded in controlling and checking the spread of the pandemic,” said George.
Dr P Gopikumar, secretary, Indian Medical Association, said that the incubation period of the virus has come down drastically.
“Earlier, it used to take seven or eight days to spread across the system and start infecting others. Now, a person gets infected with Covid in just two days and he/she starts transmitting the virus in two days itself.. This has contributed to the hike in the number of patients,” said Dr Gopikumar.
