Kerala is in for major trouble as hospitals have run out of beds and oxygen, according to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday evening, Vijayan said he has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help the State to get at least 500 tonnes of oxygen as the State is facing a shortage of 1,000 tonnes of it.
Kerala diagnosed 41, 953 persons with Covid-19 during the last 12 hours, said the Chief Minister. “The day also saw 58 persons succumbing to the pandemic and the Test Positivity Rate touching 25.69 per cent. Ernakulam district which diagnosed more than 6000 patients during the last 12 hours has become a serious concern. People in the district have been asked to stay indoors and not to come out of their houses.
Total lock down has been declared in all Panchayaths in the district,” said the Chief Minister. Towns like Aluwa, Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam wore the look of ghost towns as this reporter took a drive along the district on Wednesday, of course with police permission.
Things in Kerala have taken a serious turn during the last 12 hours as the Chief Minister had told the media on Tuesday that there was no shortage of oxygen in the State. But he had to make a volte-face in the intervening period and came out with the real situation in the State.
Vijayan said that the Covid-19 has spread over to rural areas in the State, a hitherto unheard phenomenon. “There is no vaccine as the Centre has not parted with any stock. This has affected the vaccination programme,” said Vijayan.
Since the Government Hospitals are facing severe shortage of beds, directives have been given to all hospitals to admit only patients who are in serious condition. “We have just two more beds remaining in the hospital and that is likelyto get filled in another one hour. So whoever comes to this hospital have to be turned away or they may have to wait till some patients succumb to the pandemic,” said a senior doctor in a Government Hospital in Ernakulam.
The First Line Covid Treatment Centre at Perumbavoor with capability to admit 300 patients have stopped admitting category one and two patients (those who are in the primary and secondary stages) and only those in the last phase are being admitted, said the doctor in charge on condition that his name would not be given.
A seasoned physician who has seen many medical emergencies in the past said that though the number of death given on Wednesday was 58, he was sure that it was a suppressed figure.
“The Government does not want the people to get panic. I along with my fellow doctors in Ernakulam tabulated 20 deaths in the district alone. There are 13 other districts and the death rate in these districts is anybody’s guess,” he said.