PremiumKerala's policy is to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and subsequent deaths to as greater extent as possible instead of relying on acquiring social immunity by mass sickness, said state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday.
"From the very beginning, our state has adopted a policy of protecting as many people as possible from disease. Our policy is not to make everyone sick and acquire social (collective) immunity, but to prevent the disease from reaching as many people as possible and prevent deaths until the vaccine is available," said Vijayan while addressing a press conference.
He further went on to say that the state is reporting deaths due to the virus to far greater accuracy when compared to others.
"ICMR studies show that Kerala is a better reporting state than most other states. An example is Madhya Pradesh. According to the excess death analysis conducted in May this year, there were an estimated 1,33,000 more deaths in Madhya Pradesh than in May 2019. But only 2461 deaths were reported. The death toll there is 54 times higher than reported. Such problems do not exist in our state," said the Kerala CM.
He also pointed out that about 90% of the total patients of Covid-19 are being treated free of cost in state government hospitals.
"The government has also controlled the cost of treatment in other private hospitals. The government and the private sector are trying to deal with covid with full cooperation," said Vijayan.
"Forty-three percent of people over the age of 18 have already been vaccinated with a single dose. The second dose was given to 12 percent of people," he added.
According to Vijayan, Kerala is the fastest-growing state in terms of vaccination.
"Strong measures will continue until vaccination is completed. In the state, 43 per cent (1,14,54,325) over the age of 18 (as of yesterday) were given the first dose of the vaccine. 16.49% (39,58,115) were vaccinated with the second dose," he said.
The CM's statements are in line with state health minister Veena George's denial of any fudging of data.
George on Saturday denied the claims of Kerala having underreported deaths during the first wave of Covid-19.
Responding to the allegations, she said that the state has been adhering to the guidelines of WHO and ICMR to classify Covid deaths, adding that the number of deaths reported after the first wave was almost correct.
She added that the state government has made it even more transparent by doing real-time data entry.
"We're following the guidelines of WHO and ICMR to classify Covid deaths. We had conducted a Covid death analysis after the first wave and found out that our numbers were almost correct. We have made it more transparent by doing the real-time entry," George was quoted as saying by ANI.
She further said, "For Covid, we've always tried to keep the number of cases below medical capacity. No one died in Kerala due to lack of oxygen supply."
With inputs from agencies.
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