THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It will take around two to three weeks to ease the rush in hospitals and bring down the number of Covid deaths in the state, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Addressing the media, he said around 9 per cent of patients were admitted to hospitals and the remaining 91 per cent in their houses about 10 days ago.
But now, the number of hospital admissions has risen to 14 per cent and so are the Covid deaths. Hence, experts are of the view that at least two-three weeks are needed before hospital admissions and Covid deaths come down in the state, he said.
Meanwhile, of the 87,331 samples tested on Monday, 17,821 people turned out to be positive, while the test positivity rate stood at 22.6 per cent. There were also around 36,039 recoveries. The test positivity rate in Malappuram district continues to remain unchecked. And the state government has ordered that patients in Malappuram district, who have difficulties to remain in quarantine due to the high number of family members, be shifted to CFLTCs from houses.
“The joint family system is one of the reasons for the high test positivity rate in Malappuram district, where triple lockdown was clamped nine days ago. The government will also shift those in home quarantine to CFLTCs if they were found to be violating quarantine norms. Those who flout the triple lockdown guidelines will also be subjected to Antigen test and shifted to CFLTC if they were to test positive,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state government has included the black fungus cases or mucormycosis in the list of cases to be reported to the health department by hospitals and other health institutions. Now, all the black fungus cases have to be reported to the health department by the institutions concerned. The health department will also form a treatment protocol for treating black fungus cases. The state government has also asked all local self-government bodies to start CFLTCs within their limits.
The state government will protect children who lost their parents to Covid, said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The case of expats, who need to go abroad before the stipulated time frame fixed for taking the second dose of vaccination, will be considered seriously. The government will take steps to provide vaccines to them before the 84-day period set by the Centre for the second dose vaccination.