The current surge in cases in the post-Onam period was expected but the surge had stayed well below the projected or expected numbers, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Saturday.
Though the active cases went up, hospitalisations had not risen significantly and the number of hospitalised patients had remained stable between 30,000 and 33,000 cases.
The proportion of people who were hospitalised from among the positive cases had dropped from 5.99% during August 14-20 to 5.23% between August 28 and September 3. He said the State was on the right track as far as COVID containment was concerned and had been reassured of the same by all the national and international health experts with whom he had interacted during an online session recently.
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With vaccination proceeding at a fast pace and all containment measures in place, Kerala did not have to worry about the rise in cases.
Mr. Vijayan said most of those who were dying due to COVID were unvaccinated elderly. Though even the fully vaccinated did seem to get infection, they rarely developed serious disease or succumbed to the disease. He said all the elderly and those with comorbidities should get vaccinated as fast as possible.
Kerala had already covered 75% of those above 18 years in the State with one dose of vaccine, while 27.84% had been fully vaccinated. The State hoped to achieve full coverage of the population above 18 years with the first dose this month itself.
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He said even though vaccine supplies fell short at times, the Centre was now supplying vaccines at regular intervals, as soon as the State utilised its stock. The State was expected to receive 9,97,570 doses of vaccine on Sunday.