The three-day long total lockdown in Kerala that concluded on Sunday late night has helped in bringing down the number of new instances of Covid-19 and the Test Positivity Rate. Health Minister Veena George who addressed the media on Monday evening said that 11,586 new cases were logged on Monday while the TPR came down to 10.59.
The death toll in the State reached 16, 170 as the pandemic claimed 135 deaths on Monday. The Minister blamed the Union government for not heeding to the requests from the State for more vaccines. “Kerala is facing severe shortage of vaccine despite the Chief Minister and me making number of appeals to the Prime Minister and the Union Health Minister,” said George.
The Health Department tested 1.09 lakh samples on Monday compared to 1.42 lakh samples tested on Sunday. On Sunday, the State had recorded 17,466 new cases of Covid-19 and a TPR of 12.3 percent.
A senior physician working in Government Hospital in the State said the reduction in the number of new Covid-19 cases does not bring any relief. “The number of samples tested, the number of antigen and RT-PCR tests should be analysed to figure out whether there has been any reduction in the transmission of the pandemic. The antigen tests are not fool-proof while the final results of RT-PCR tests would be known only after two to three days,” said the physician.
There are 271 regions in the State where TPR showed more than 17 percent. The new policy of the Government is the slapping of total lock down and isolation of areas showing high TPR rates.