With more than 50 per cent of its population still not infected, the current Covid trend was always expected in the state, especially given its peculiar characteristics, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said on Friday. What is being seen now, she reiterated, was a result of a well-planned strategy to handle the pandemic.

Citing a number of parameters that indicate “our defensive measures were very good”, Ms George said the focus right now is on vaccines, something the state is running out of quickly. “The situation in Kerala is absolutely under control. How do you anaylse this? Look at the data on occupancy in hospitals. It is less for hospitals, for ICU beds, and even in demand for oxygen support. It means the severity of the disease is less,” Ms George told in an exclusive interview.

“A Central team visited Kerala a couple of weeks ago. They visited many places, they visited hospitals, they went to many districts. They communicated to us that they are satisfied with the measures the government is adopting. They told us that plateau-formation in this phase is quite expected,” she said. Ms George said several other experts and virologists, too, had reassured the Kerala administration about this “plateau formation”. Kerala on Friday reported 20,772 new Covid cases, recording over 20,000 infections for the fourth straight day. Its test positivity rate (TPR) rose to 13.61 per cent. Up to 116 people died of the disease. As of Thursday, July 29, some 50 per cent of India’s Covid cases were reported in Kerala. Up to 40 per cent of the country’s active cases were there. The average number of daily cases was up 50 per cent while it is down 6 per cent nationally.

News Source : NDTV