Kerala’s COVID graph seems to be plateauing around the 2,000 case mark, with the State reporting 1,955 cases on Sunday when 14,789 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. The graph had stayed at the 2,000-2,500 mark for five days consecutively before it dipped slightly on Sunday. However the dip in cases is probably due to the dip in testing. The test positivity rate (TPR) on Sunday was 13.2% . The average TPR over the past seven days has also been 13.16%.
The State has 15,007 active cases now. No deaths due to COVID were reported on Sunday. Ernakulam continues to be the district reporting the maximum number of cases daily with 571 cases, followed by Thiruvananthapuram (336), Kottayam (201) and Kozhikode (173). As public health experts have been pointing out, there is no way one can go by the official COVID data at this stage because people continue to stay away from testing for COVID despite developing symptoms. Most prefer to stay home in isolation rather than get tested because in most cases the symptoms are mild and after vaccination, the fear factor surrounding COVID has diminished substantially.
Need for testing
However, as this is the season of viral fevers, and since symptoms of various infectious diseases overlap, it would be prudent to test and diagnose the illness so that treatment can be initiated without delay. Severe illness at this time is restricted to older adults, especially those with multiple co-morbidities. Hence reverse quarantine needs to be implemented strictly to protect the elderly. This becomes all the more important as schools have reopened and children are likely to bring COVID infection home.
