Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today informed that there was a 12.1% reduction in the number of Covid-19 cases reported in Kerala in the last week. “Statistics show that there has been a decrease in the spread of Covid with the introduction of lockdown. The test positivity rate is decreasing in the four districts where triple lockdown has been implemented. However, a relaxation in the lockdown can be considered only if there is a significant decline in the number of new cases.”
The prevalence of the disease has been declining significantly on a weekly basis of confirmed cases and test positivity rates. During the week from April 14 to 20, a total of 92,248 cases were reported with a TPR of 15.5%. The growth rate in TPR was 69.2% over the previous week and the number of cases increased by 134.7%. The number of cases during the week from May 28 to May 4 was 2,41,615 with a TPR of 25.79%. The increase in TPR was 21.23% and the increase in the number of cases was 28.71%. 2,33,301 cases were confirmed last week and the weekly TPR was 26.44%. The TPR decreased by 3.15% and the total number of reported cases declined by 12.1% as compared to last week.
“It should be assumed from the declining number of cases that the restrictions are showing results but it’s not yet time to relax the regulations. We should continue to be vigilant”, the Chief Minister said. He also added that there was no need to panic over the Black Fungus cases being reported in the State.
32,762 new Covid cases were reported in the State today from 1,40,545 sample tests during the last 24 hours. The test positivity rate is 23.31%. At the same time, 112 deaths were confirmed today as due to Covid taking the related death toll in the State to 6,724. At present, there are 3.31,860 persons under treatment for the disease in Kerala even as 48,413 patients have recovered today. Ernakulam district has the highest number of 4,282 new positive cases.
Status of ICU beds & Ventilators
There are 2,906 ICU beds in government hospitals in the State. Of these, 1,404 beds are used for the treatment of Covid patients and 616 beds for non-Covid patients. About 69.5% of ICU beds in government hospitals are currently occupied. Of the 7,468 ICU beds in private hospitals, 1,681 are presently used for the treatment of Covid patients.
The total number of ventilators in government hospitals is 2,293. Of these, 712 ventilators are in use for the treatment of Covid patients and 139 for the treatment of non-Covid patients. About 37.1% of the total ventilators in government hospitals are currently in use. Of the 2,432 ventilators in private hospitals, 798 are currently being used for Covid treatment.
The daily consumption of oxygen in the state is 135.04 MT while the availability is 239.24 MT per day.
There are 19,098 beds in 145 CFLTCs in the state. Of these, 7,544 beds are being used for the treatment of Covid patients. About 60.5% of beds are still available at CFLTCs. There are 87 SLTCs and of the 8,821 beds available at such centres, 4,370 beds have been used. About 50% of the beds are still available in the SLTCs. There are 517 domiciliary care centres in the state with 22,750 beds. About 30% have been used.