The furious Covid delta variant infected 22,064 more in Kerala on Thursday, at a trot for the third day as the daily count crossed the 22,000-mark. With Kerala accounting for almost half of the daily number of cases in the country, the Center deputed a six-member high-level multi-disciplinary team to help the state deal with the situation.
As noted virologist T Jacob John explains, the delta variant is like a heat-seeking missile. It will look for the uninfected. And what makes the situation even more complicated is the state’s loss of population density and extended life expectancy (or, aging), said John, a retired professor and head of the Department of Clinical Virology and Microbiology at CMC Vellore and a former ICMR. Director says. Center for Advanced Research in Virology.
low sero-proliferation
Virologist Gagandeep Kang said in a media interview that the “best explanation” for the state with 2-3 per cent of the country’s population being more than 50 per cent of the daily increase in cases across the country, lies in the fact that Kerala’s sero- Positivity, as established by the fourth nationwide sero-survey, is significantly lower than the national average. Kerala’s figure is 43 percent as compared to the national figure of 68 percent. This means that over 50 per cent of Kerala’s population – a much higher percentage than any other state – remains vulnerable.
He pointed out that the delta version arrived later in Kerala than the rest of the country. Therefore, it is spreading at the same speed as it was spreading in the rest of the country earlier.
Srinath Reddy, the head of the Public Health Foundation of India, also echoed saying that the second wave is longer in Kerala as it has a higher number of susceptible people, who have not been infected yet. And to add to this, it is a state with a high density and has an aging population.
The northern districts of Malappuram (3,679), Thrissur (2,752), Kozhikode (2,619), Ernakulam (2,359), and Palakkad (2,034) led the rise, while three others reported over 1,000 infections.
Kerala recently relaxed its weekend lockdown, though the TPR was high, and it even invited a rap from the Supreme Court. Earlier this month, the state had made concessions ahead of Bakrid (Eid-ul-Adha) against the recommendations of the medical community and doubled the number of pilgrims visiting the hill-top shrine of Sabarimala when the temple opens for five days. The tax was increased to 10,000. Late on Wednesday, the state government said it was restoring the weekend lockdown on Saturday and Sunday (July 31 and August 1) after the Supreme Court strongly disagreed with its moves to allow relaxations.
next 3 weeks important
State Health Minister Veena George said, “People need to be extremely vigilant in view of accelerated COVID transmission for the next three weeks. We managed to hold the TPR back to a plateau of about 10 percent for over a month. There has been a slight increase in TPR since July 20 but it is not worrying.
family groups detected
IMA Kerala President PT Zakaria said that the vaccination campaign should be intensified with the support of private hospitals as this is the only solution.
The vaccine ran out in the state a few days ago, but on Wednesday night it received 9,72,590 doses. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya recently assured a delegation of MPs from Kerala that its vaccine requirement would be met.
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