Amid surging cases in Kerala, Mandaviya urges Karnataka, TN to take tough measures

With COVID-19 cases rising in Kerala, adequate steps should be taken to contain the inter-state spread of the infection, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday as he urged Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to increase the pace of vaccination in border districts. In a telephonic conversation on Wednesday with the health ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Mandaviya reviewed the COVID-19 situation in these states.

New Delhi:With COVID-19 cases rising in Kerala, adequate steps should be taken to contain the inter-state spread of the infection, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday as he urged Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to increase the pace of vaccination in border districts. In a telephonic conversation on Wednesday with the health ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Mandaviya reviewed the COVID-19 situation in these states, a health ministry statement said.

Due to the rising cases in Kerala, the Union Health Minister discussed matters related to COVID-19 management in those areas of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, which border Kerala. Highlighting the need to take adequate steps to contain the inter-state spread of COVID-19, Mandaviya requested the respective health ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to increase the pace of vaccination in the districts bordering Kerala, the statement said.

The COVID-19 test positivity rate is high in Kerala, going over 20 per cent in some districts which is evidence of intense virus circulation, government sources said on Wednesday underlining the need for strict containment measures and strategic lockdown to bring down the cases. There is hesitancy to impose lockdown and strategic containment measures for reducing transmission intensity even as the small coastal state is contributing to over three-fourth of the new daily COVID-19 cases in the country, a government source said.

Read: Covid cases in Kerala to decline within ten days: Report

With over 85 per cent of the coronavirus patients being in home isolation, there is a greater need for implementing stricter containment measures. In several areas, home isolation guidelines are not being followed properly which is leading to the spread of infection, the sources pointed out. "The COVID-19 test positivity rate is high in Kerala, going over 20 per cent in some districts which is evidence of intense virus circulation. As the state is following home quarantine as the key strategy, wider containment and strategic lockdown needs to be implemented to contain the transmission of the disease, especially in view of festivals," the source said.

According to experts, if Kerala adopts strict containment measures, the cases can come down substantially within two weeks, the source stated.

Kerala on Wednesday reported 32,803 new Covid cases and 173 deaths which pushed the total infection count to 40,90,036 and the fatalities to 20,961. The test positivity rate (TPR) was found to be 18.76 per cent after testing of 1,74,854 samples in the last 24 hours, according to a state government release. With this, 3,17,27,535 samples have been tested till now, it said.

It also said that since Tuesday, 21,610 people have recovered from the infection, taking the total recoveries to 38,38,614 and the number of active cases to 2,29,912.

PTI