Congress accuses CPI(M) govt in Kerala of downplaying Covid-19 spike

V D Satheesan said that even as 89 percent of Covid-19 cases in the country were in Kerala and Covid deaths were being reported in the state, the Pinarayi Vijayan government was not taking any steps to address the concerns of the people

Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition party Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala has alleged that the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front government in the state is trying to downplay the fresh spike in Covid-19 cases owing to the ongoing mass outreach programme 'Nava Kerala Sadas' of the government.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan said that even as 89 percent of the Covid-19 cases in the country were in Kerala and Covid deaths were being reported in the state, the Pinarayi Vijayan government was not taking any steps to address the concerns of the people. The government is waiting for the Nava Kerala Sadas to go on smoothly, he alleged.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Veena George alleged that the Opposition was trying to trigger unnecessary scare to politicise the issue. She said that as soon as a slight increase in Covid cases was found, the state decided to subject samples for whole-genome sequencing. Thus the JN.1 sub variant was confirmed on a 79-year-old man from Thiruvananthapuram. Most of the deceased were aged around 70 and were having comorbid symptoms.

She also said that the high number of Covid cases in Kerala was due to the more number of tests being done here. The high alertness of the state health department indeed helped in detecting the new variant in Kerala even as many Indians were tested positive for this variant at Singapore airport earlier. The state has 1,906 isolation beds and 1,957 oxygen beds, she said.