KOCHI: VS Sivakumar, MLA, on Thursday said that the tall claims made by the Kerala government during the initial days of the Covid-19 fight have fallen flat after six months. He alleged that the state government failed to ramp up testing after a point and fell to the bottom of the list in terms of testing numbers in the country.
Demanding the government to step up community-level screening in critical containment zones, Sivakumar said that the only way to control the community spread and minimise mortality rate is by giving proper medical care for every patient. Pointing out that Kerala was the first state in the country to admit a community spread, the former health minister alleged that the state government tried to minimise the testing which led to the huge increase of Covid-19 cases.
He said that only after July 6, Kerala crossed 10,000 tests, which is very low. He said that until a month ago, there were only 200 Covid-19 cases in Thiruvananthapuram district and now the number of cases is nearing 4,000. He alleged that the state government has hardly taken any step to increase patient care infrastructure, testing facilities and human resources to effectively handle the situation. He further alleged that the state government had claimed that they have arranged around 1. 3 lakh beds for treating Covid-19 patients but now the authorities have decided to start home treatment for asymptomatic patients.