Kerala all geared up to handle spike in COVID-19 cases: CM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has assured the people of the State that the government was fully geared up to handle the current spike in COVID cases.

Briefing the media, the Chief Minister said, “With the number of new active COVID cases in the State exceeding 1,000 in a day, the present situation and the details about the medical facilities need to be mentioned. Of the 8,056 COVID patients currently under treatment, 53 are in the ICU and nine are on the ventilator. The case per million in Kerala is 419.1 as against the national figure of 864.4. the fatality rate in the State is 0.31 as compared to 2.41 in India. So far 86,959 persons have been identified as primary contacts and 37,937 people were identified as secondary contacts in the state. Of the total number of positive cases, 65.16% are currently locally acquired (locally transmitted) and Thiruvananthapuram district has the highest at 94.4%.”

In addition to the dedicated hospital beds for COVID treatment, 15,975 additional beds have been set up at the First Line Treatment Centres and of these, 4,535 are being currently used in treatment. The State has a stock of 3.42 lakhs N95 masks, 3.86 lakh PPE kits, 16.1 lakhs three-layer masks and 40.3 lakhs gloves for health workers. 80 ventilators have been purchased in the last few days. There are a total of 270 ICU ventilators were given by the Central Government. Another 50 ventilators are expected from the central government within two weeks. Enough oxygen has been stocked to operate 6,007 ventilators day and night. Liquid oxygen facilities are available at seven medical college hospitals. 947 ambulances are ready specifically for COVID purpose.

“The e-Sanjeevini telemedicine system is functioning in all the districts and at present, there are 50 mobile medical units in operation. Work is underway to establish another 19. We are prepared to face the current situation”, Mr. Vijayan said.