THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid all-out efforts to rein in the pandemic, the state on Thursday reached a grim milestone with the Covid tally breaching the two lakh-mark. It came on a day when the daily caseload crossed the 8,000-mark -- 8,135 new cases were reported which took the active case count to 72, 339 -- for the second straight day.Also, the number of confirmed Covid deaths is witnessing a steady climb, with 29 casualties reported on Thursday. It is also the highest single-day loss of lives since the first Covid death in Ernakulam on March 28.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters at his regular media briefing that with the virus transmission unabated, various districts have come out with novel campaigns to contain the same. “Take the case of Kozhikode, which recorded the maximum number of cases (1,072) till date on the day. They had made Covid Jagratha ID mandatory for all positive cases. It is needed for availing treatment in hospital or Covid Hospital as well as availing health insurance. Kannur launched a couple of campaigns,” he said.
The initiatives launched by Kannur were ‘No Mask No Entry’ campaign and ‘Zero Contact Challenge’. While the former focuses on ensuring proper use of facemask in institutions, vehicles and open spaces and restricting entry to allow only those complying with the same, the latter calls for following Covid protocol under all circumstances where there is the possibility of person-to-person contact.
Alappuzha launched ‘Karutham Alappuzhaye’ a month-long campaign to save its 3.30 lakh-strong aged population from Covid infection. Earlier, the CM said despite the awareness campaign and preventive measures being undertaken in the state capital, they failed to yield the desired results owing to the non compliance on the part of the public. Pinarayi pointed out that most of the Covid patients in the district were aged below 40.
“Crowding is still an issue at malls and it mostly occurs during evenings and on holidays. In some places, people arrive with children who are regarded as most vulnerable to Covid. Crowding at hospitals has also been noticed. There have also been reports of pregnant women, who arrive at health centres for periodic check-up, proceeding to shop at nearby outlets. All these will result in the spread of the virus,” said the CM. Allaying fears surrounding home care, the chief minister referred to a success story from Kollam where a 90-year-old woman suffering from diabetes recovered from Covid. He said to strengthen the containment measures in Ernakulam, corona flying squads will function at the local body level.
For the third day running, over a hundred health workers — 105 — were infected in the state on Thursday. Of the 8,135 cases reported, 7,013 were due to contact transmission. The source of infection in 730 cases remains unknown. Also, 285 returnees and two staff of INHS. figured among the new cases. Besides, there were 2,828 recoveries