The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has opined that Kerala is moving towards a medical emergency situation as the Health Minister’s office disclosed that on Thursday 22,064 new people were diagnosed with Covid-19 while the Test Positivity Rate increased further to 13.53 per cent. The death toll in the State till date reached 16,585 as 128 lives were claimed by the pandemic during the last 24 hours, said the Minister’s release. On Thursday 1.63 lakh samples were tested and Malappuram continued to be the epicentre of Covid-cases in the State. The district had 3,679 positive cases by Thursday evening and was closely followed by Thrissur (2752), Kozhikode (2619) , Ernakulam (2359) and Palakkad (2034).
There were 323 regions in the State which registered TPR of 15 per cent and above. The State has 1,54, 820 registered Covid-19 patients.
Dr P Gopikumar, secretary, Indian Medical Association (Kerala) said the situation was grave and expressed concern over the unabated hike in the number of cases and death tolls.
“What we see in the State is that the safety regulations are not being followed. The social distancing has been dumped. Wherever you go, you can see people without facemasks crowding the places and this has to be avoided. The Government is doing its best but this cannot be taken forward without the active cooperation of the people,” Dr Gopikumar told The Pioneer.
He said that toll now less than 30 per cent of the population has been infected with the disease. “This means that more than 60 per cent of the population are susceptible to the pandemic. Moreover incubation period of the new variant of the virus has come down drastically and the rate at which it spread is also fast,” said the Indian Medical Association man.
Dr Gopikumar made it clear that he was not pressing any panic button. “But we may have to resort to that level if we fail to observe the safety measures and social distancing mode at least for the next one year. The Kerala Government should undertake the operations on a war footing,” he said.