THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pregnant women and chronic patients in the state should be given priority in vaccination by giving them jabs on holidays also, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday.
The CM gave the instruction to the health department at the COVID review meeting held during the day, a state government statement said.
He also instructed the health department to ensure there was no shortage of syringes to administer the vaccine doses, it said.
He also directed the local bodies, ward committees and rapid response teams to be vigilant in ensuring that those suffering from chronic ailments are immediately taken to the hospital if they get infected with COVID-19 and to make sure the telemedicine system is working properly, the statement said.
Besides that he also directed the health department to study the case of the 124 people in Pathanamthitta who contracted COVID-19 despite receiving the two doses of vaccine.
In the meeting it was also decided that only the concessions given last time in connection with the Aranmula boat race should be given this time, the statement said.
The state on Tuesday logged 21,613 new COVID-19 cases pushing the infection count to 37,03,578, as the number of people succumbing to the disease rose to 18,870 with 127 additional deaths.
As many as 18,556 people have been cured of the infection since Monday, taking the total recoveries to 35,29,465 and the number of active cases to 1,75,167, a state government release said.
In the last 24 hours, 1,39,623 samples were tested and the TPR was found to be 15.48 per cent.
So far, 2,96,85,152 samples have been tested, it said.
Among districts, Malappuram recorded 3,193 coronavirus cases followed by Ernakulam (2,643), Thrissur (2,470), Kozhikode (2,322), Palakkad (2,134), Kollam (1,692), Kannur (1,306), Alappuzha (1,177), Kottayam (1,155) and Thiruvananthapuram (1,155).
Of the new cases, 92 are health workers, 92 had come from outside the state and 20,248 were infected through contact with the source of contact being not clear in 1,181 cases, the release said.
There are currently 4,96,349 people under surveillance in various districts of the state.
Of these, 4,68,468 are in home or institutional quarantine and 27,881 in hospitals.