Kerala eases COVID-19 curbs, TPR drops to 15%
State records 15,876 new infections with 129 deaths; among the 198,865 active cases, only 13.7 % are admited to hospitals
With marked decline in COVID-19 positive cases and a downward trend in Test Positivity Rate (TPR), Kerala is limping back to normalcy by easing stringent curbs imposed to contain the pandemic.
Kerala government on Tuesday decided to restore Saturdays as working days, close on the heels of withdrawing the night curfew and strict lockdown measures on Sundays, imposed in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in the state.
“All employees are instructed to report for duty (on Saturdays) accordingly,” an order issued by the Disaster Management Department said.
“Ater assessing the present COVID-19 scenario and the restrictions imposed in the state to contain the same, the government is pleased to restore Saturdays also as working days, wherever applicable,” the order stated.
On Aug.4, all government offices, quasi government, public sector undertakings, companies, autonomous bodies and commissions were allowed to work from Monday to Friday with full atendance.
Kerala recorded 15,876 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, a health department press release said.
With 129 new fatalities, the death toll mounted to 22,779.
Test positivity rate is pegged at 15.12 per cent. A total of 105,005 samples were tested during the last 24 hours.
The number of active cases in the state came down to 1, 98,865 on Tuesday ater 25,654 more recovered from the infection.
The local bodies have been categorised on the basis of the Weekly Infection Population Ratio (WIPR). WIPR is above 7 in 794 local bodies.
Among them, 692 wards are in urban areas and 3416 in rural zones.
According to the release, 575,668 people are currently under observation in the state.
Out of this, 546,791 people are under home/ institutional quarantine and 28,877 people are in hospitals. A total of 1823 people were taken to hospitals on Tuesday.
Among the 198,865 COVID active cases, only 13.7 per cent patients are admited to hospitals / field hospitals. Forty-four of the new COVID patients came from outside the state, while 14,959 people contracted the virus through contact.
The infection source of 778 patients remains unidentified.
Ninety five health workers also tested positive for COVID-19.
Also on Tuesday, 25,654 recoveries were reported in the state.
With Tuesday’s figures, the number of active cases touched 198,865 in the state and so far 4,184,158 persons recovered from the disease.
Meanwhile, steps are being taken to deal with the large amount of unused vaccine in private hospitals in Kerala. ]A vaccine sponsoring programme has been initiated to address this issue.
Those who did not get the vaccine can receive free vaccination from private hospitals through this scheme.
Almost 1 million doses of Covishield vaccine were collected from the Serum Institute by Kerala Medical Service Corporation Limited (KMSCL) and distributed to private hospitals on the condition that the hospitals should pay back the money collected from people.
An amount had been allocated for this purpose from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF).
Private hospitals charge Rs750 to Rs800 for the vaccine. Since the vaccines distributed by the government hospitals and health centres are free of cost, most people are reluctant to take the vaccine shot from private hospitals.
Individuals or organisations can be a part of the sponsorship programme. The local bodies will be in charge of determining the sponsors and finding people who are yet to receive the vaccine.
Vaccines will be distributed under the supervision of hospitals. People belonging to poor social and economic backgrounds will be given priority.
This includes people working in unorganised sectors and employment guarantee workers.
Meanwhile, India registered 25,404 new infections in the last 24 hours, a 6.8 per cent decrease from the previous day, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data released on Tuesday.
The country reported 27,254 cases on Monday and 28,591 on Sunday.