Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit Kerala on Monday 16 to do an on-ground assessment of the Covid-19 situation in the southern state which has been witnessing a surge in new infections accounting for 51.5 per cent of those reported on Saturday over the country as a whole.
Mandaviya will be accompanied by Central government officers and will meet with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Health Minister Veena George, and State government officers. Also on the Central team are Sujeet Singh, Head, National Centre for Disease Control, and Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary.
TPR continues to stay high
Kerala reported a Covid test positivity rate (TPR) of 13.97 per cent on Saturday. The Union Minister is also scheduled to review the functioning at HLL Lifecare, a healthcare products manufacturer in the public sector at Thiruvananthapuram, and visit the Government Medical College and Hospital.
The state currently has over 1.80 lakh active cases - the only one to have an active case pool of over a lakh. The death count in the state ever since the pandemic began stands at 18,499. At least 11 of the 14 districts, especially in the North, are reporting an increase in the trend of daily average cases.
Kerala administered 5.08,849 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday, the first day of the three-day intensive inoculation drive, including 4,39,860 first doses and 68,989 second doses, while it received a fresh consignment of 2.91 lakh doses, Health Minister Veena George said.
Intensive inoculation drive
The state had given away 5.60 lakh doses on Friday itself, a day before the drive started, and the State government has fixed benchmark five lakh doses to be achieved on Sunday and Monday as well. Five districts achieved the 50,000-mark for themselves on Saturday, the first day of the drive.
The current drive aims to cover the entire population of 60+ by giving them at least the first dose, the minister said. She requested that anyone in this age group who has been left out of the list should immediately contact the nearest healthcare worker or hospital and receive the first dose.
Fresh vaccine stock arrives
The fresh batch of 2,91,080 doses that the state received on Saturday is of Covishield. The three regional vaccine stores shared the consignment among themselves with Thiruvananthapuram receiving 95,860; Ernakulam 1,14,590; and Kozhikode, 77,990, the Health Department said.
The stock got replenished due to expeditious supplies during August. Arrivals jumped from August 10 (5.11 lakh - 2.91 lakh Covishield and 2.20 Covaxin); August 11 (8.87 lakh - 8 lakh Covishield and 86,960 Covaxin); and August 13 (5.35 lakh - 4.02 lakh Covishield and 3.02 lakh Covaxin).
Of the estimated 2021 population, as many as 2,39,22,426 received the first or second dose so far. Of these, 1,72,66,344 are first doses (48.7 per cent) and 66,56,082 second doses (18.79 per cent). In the 18+ group, 60.07 per cent has received the first dose and 23.18 per cent, the second dose.