THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan alleged negligence in Kerala’s Covid-19 management, especially during Onam fest, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan came out with a strong reply. The CM said some people were desperate to tarnish the image of the state in Covid prevention and control and in the process they overlooked certain facts, including the state’s low Covid mortality rate.
He said it was not Onam fest but the protests carried out by Opposition parties which caused the infection to spread and resulted in a spike in cases. At the same time, recoveries (7,469) exceeded new cases for the second day in a row. The state reported 5,022 fresh Covid cases on Monday.The other day, Vardhan, while speaking in his online talk show ‘Sunday Samwad’, said Kerala was paying the price for its “gross negligence” during Onam and other states should learn from it to prevent the situation from getting out of control. To this, the CM said: “Let’s look at its positive side.
The nation is going to witness a range of festivities in the coming days. He might have tried to convey that Onam-like fests, if not celebrated as per Covid protocol, could spread infection. Now comes the other side, did the state celebrate Onam without any precaution.” “Everyone knows that prior to Onam the government had warned about the risks involved in celebrating without following caution. It was as part of the same that Onam got confined to homes.
The advisories and directions issued at that time corroborate it. It was not Onam but the protests organised in an uncivilised manner that spread infection,” he said. Despite repeated assurance from various quarters that testing will be increased, only 36,599 samples were tested in the state on Monday, the lowest this month.