Kerala overtook Tamil Nadu by Friday evening in the number of new patients diagnosed with Covid-19.
While Kerala diagnosed 6,477 new patients on Friday,
Tamil Nadu’s tally for the day was 5,679.
According to the department of health, Government of Kerala, the State had 48, 892 Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment in hospitals. But in Tamil Nadu, the number of active patients undergoing treatment for the pandemic stood at 46,386.
This is the first time Kerala has overtaken its neighbor in the number of patients diagnosed with the pandemic as well as the total number of Covid-19 patients.
Out of the 14 districts in Kerala, seven has more than 500 patients each. The State saw 22 persons succumbing to the pandemic while Tamil Nadu was ahead in the number of deaths. The State registered 72 deaths during the last 24 hours.
The Kerala Government release said 2.16 lakh persons were under observation in the State as on Friday evening. “Kerala’s population is less than half of Tamil Nadu which is almost four times the size of Kerala ,” said Dr C V Krishnaswamy, eminent physician who is monitoring the situation in South Indian States . He said there was something seriously amiss in the way Kerala has been handling the issue.
“Tamil Nadu situation has stabilised as the mortality rate has come down and there are only few areas which are showing upward trend. But, as on today situation in Kerala warrants concern,” said Dr Krishnaswamy who also expressed his reservation on the race for vaccine. “You wait till the vaccines are out. Meanwhile there are physicians in Tamil Nadu and Kerala who are curing hundreds of Covid-19 patients with native medicines,” said the octogenarian diabetologist.