Covid-19 TPR in Kerala hovers around 20%; experts question logic of night curfew and Sunday lockdown

Even as the number of fresh Covid-19 cases reported in Kerala on Sunday remained slightly below the 30,000 mark, the test positivity rate was close to 20 per cent.

While 29,836 fresh cases were reported when 1.51 lakh samples were tested, the TPR was 19.67 per cent. During the last three days, the number of fresh cases has been above 30,000.

The number of active cases that crossed the two lakh mark on Saturday reached 2.12 lakh by Sunday. However, only 30,055 were admitted to hospitals while the remaining were either in the home or institutional quarantine. Around 50 per cent of hospital beds in the state are still free.

Even as the state government resumed the lockdowns on Sundays and decided to impose night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am from Monday, many experts feel that those were very unscientific measures. Speeding up the vaccination drive even by engaging the private hospitals of the state has been suggested to be the most effective way out of Covid’s grip.

Public health expert and WHO former technical officer Dr. S S Lal said that already it has been proved that the weekend lockdowns are not helping in curbing Covid-19 spread in the state. Even then the state government is going ahead with such unscientific measures.

He said that vaccination drive in the state could be enhanced by engaging private hospitals also. Already the state government has received huge contributions through a 'vaccine challenge' campaign after it announced that it would provide free vaccines to all. In the present context, that amount could be also used to directly purchase vaccines and administer them to the people free of cost as the Centre's vaccine supply would have its normal delay. Though private hospitals are now giving vaccines, it is on a payment basis which many low-income groups could not afford.

Meanwhile, government sources said that any further total shutdown would be imposed in the state as an extreme measure only, as the lockdown imposed in May had prolonged for around three months and badly hit the life of many, especially traders.

A meeting of experts from within the state and outside to be held on September 1 will sort out the measures to be taken to contain the Covid-19 surge in Kerala.