THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The high test positivity rate (TPR) and large number of daily new Covid patients are portrayed as a reflection of the pandemic management strategy adopted by the state by a few experts, the lack of improvement in the situation has led others to caution about the beginning of an uptick. The concerns raised come at a time when the threat of a third wave by fast-spreading virus variants is considered a possibility.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the plateauing of TPR above 10% was a matter of concern. He asked people not to be complacent about Covid protocol. The state recorded 13,550 new patients with a TPR of 11% while the number of patients under treatment was below one lakh on Tuesday. The new positives and the average spread are the highest among the states.
The lowering of guard in following Covid-appropriate protocol, especially after the lockdown restrictions were eased, has raised concerns of the spread of new variants of virus. “Nowadays, a few people use double maskis, but incidents of people pulling the masks below the nose has increased when they talk. It happens at a time when the fast-spreading Delta variant has been found to be leading the infection rate. If the situation goes like this, we will see the cases increasing in the coming weeks,” said immunologist and public health expert Dr Padmanabha Shenoy.
He pointed out that countries such as the United Kingdom which have taken steps against controlling the pandemic are facing the third wave. The state saw the plateauing of daily cases and spread in the three to four months after the lockdown in the first wave. The pandemic situation improved in March before the onset of the second wave in April.
Assistant professor Dr Anish T S of the Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, said the high TPR is the result of the strategy of flattening the curve, which helped in controlling the pandemic within the capacity of the healthcare system in the state.
While the state managed to slow down the pandemic, a large number of people are still susceptible. The new cases in the range of 10,000-13,000 are an indication of the level of susceptible population. Health experts are now demanding the government to conduct sero surveillance to identify the susceptible population, improve contact tracing and conduct real-time genomic sampling to reduce the impact of a third wave.
STATE GETS 6.34 LAKH DOSES OF COVID VACCINE
T’Puram: The health department received 6,34,279 doses of Covid vaccine on Wednesday. While Thiruvananthapuram received 1,28,500 doses of Covishield and 55,580 doses of Covaxin, Ernakulam received 1,48,690 doses of Covishield and Kozhikode received 1,01,500 doses of Covishield vaccine.