Situation in Kerala has taken a turn for the worse as the Minister for Health Veena George said in a release that 28, 481 persons were diagnosed with Covid-19 during the last 24 hours and death toll reached 51,026 by Tuesday evening.
The Pioneer has been quoting medical doctors and front line warriors who had warned that the Covid-19 situation in Kerala was going out of control as the Safety Protocols like wearing face masks, maintaining social distance and crowding in public places were ignored by the population as well as the administration.
The Test Positivity Rate on Tuesday was 35.27 per cent. The Government of Kerala had given up releasing the TPR figures following a dip in the number of daily pandemic cases diagnosed in the State. On Tuesday, Education Minister V Sivankutty was tested positive and was admitted to a city hospital. The minister was opposing the plea from all sections of the society to close down schools in the backdrop of the increase in the Covid-19 cases. By Tuesday evening, sources in Government secretariat confirmed that the all schools and colleges would be shut down in the State.
More than 500 employees (drivers and conductors) of Kerala State Road Transport Corporations were tested positive for the pandemic and this forced the public sector unit to cancel many schedules. A senior nurse in Varkkala government hospital, described as a front line covid warrior, succumbed to the pandemic which she contracted while attending to patients in the Covid-19 ward.
Dr Rajiv Pillai, a frontline medical doctor, working among the Covid-19 patients too was tested positive and has been quarantined at home. The situation in the capital city as well as in Ernakulam district continued to be alarming. The triennial CPI(M) conferences are being cited as one of the reasons for spurt in the number of Covid-19 cases in the State. The “Mega Thiruvathirakali” ( a traditional song and dance programme eulogizing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ) held at Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Thrissur which saw the participation of more than 1,500 women artists is being blamed for the hike in the Covid-19
cases.
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, party secretary, said on Tuesday that safety protocols may have to be reworked for holding the State Conference of the party at Kochi next month and the Party Congress scheduled to be held in Kannur during April 2022.