Covid-19 Situation In Kerala Is Grave, Says Union Minister V Muraleedharan

Test Positivity Rate (TPR) is near 19% in Kerala and hospitals are overflooded, said the minister.

Chennai: The Covid-19 situation in Kerala is grave and instead of using scientific methods to contain the spread, the state is trying to use the pandemic for political objectives, said the union minister of state V Muraleedharan on Thursday. 

According to a report from ANI, the minister expressed his concerns as the Covid-19 situation continues to deteriorate in the state and slammed the Kerala government for the same. 

Speaking to ANI, the minister said that the state is trying to use the pandemic for political objectives instead of using the scientific methods to contain the spread. He, further, urged the state to follow Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines. 

Pointing out that Kerala’s home quarantine plan has failed miserably, the minister, according to the report, said that the state should pay more attention to contain the spread and its Covid-19 testing numbers are less. 

The report said that Muraleedharan slammed the state’s chief minister by claiming that he has not uttered a word about the Covid-19 situation in his state. “Test Positivity Rate (TPR) is near 19% in Kerala and hospitals are overflooded,” he told ANI. 

Pointing out that the Kerala government’s statement that they had about 54% of the people in the state, he questioned its authenticity and said that the infection rate has increased after Onam festival, according to the report. 

The report further said that Kerala has logged 31,445 fresh covid-19 cases and 215 deaths on Wednesday. The total number of active cases in the state is 1,70,292 and the test positivity rate of 19.03%, the report added. 

How Kerala handled its first wave: 

Kerala reported the country’s first covid-19 case after a medical student who returned from Wuhan in China returned to the country in January 2020. The infection rate rose gradually and it became a hotspot. 

A BBC report said, “Sticking faithfully to the contagion control playbook of test, trace and isolate and involving grassroots networks, Kerala brought down its case count drastically. There were breathless stories about the state flattening the curve.”

Even though the first wave prolonged, Kerala managed to control the infection and the official death count remained low, the report added. 

Another BBC report said that the state has been on high alert and even imposed a lockdown a day before the nationwide lockdown. Kerala did rigorous contract tracing using detailed route maps of the people who return from foreign countries and set up covid-19 care centres in districts to isolate outsiders. Health workers supported people with special needs and elderly people residing alone. More than 3.4 lakh telephone calls were made by the counsellors to psychologically help people in affected areas, according to the report. 

According to a Scroll.in report, the Kerala govt had traced out Covid patient movement through maps (flow charts tracing the steps of identified patients) that were shared widely on WhatsApp. By the second week of May, Kerala was one of the world’s Covid-19 success stories as it brought down the active cases below 20.

The then Health Minister KK Shailaja -- fondly known as Shailaja teacher -- was lauded from all quarters for the way she could handle the spread of the deadly virus when it was raging in the state.