PremiumSpeaking about the surge in Omicron cases, the minister although the new variant's severity is lesser, it has the potential to spread the disease five to six times more than the Delta variant and so it should not be taken lightly
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Cautioning people against the rapid spread of Covid-19, Kerala health minister Veena George on Tuesday said that both Delta and Omicron coronavirus variants are contributing the ongoing surge in daily cases.
"Delta (variant) was the reason for more cases during the second wave. The third wave happened before it was completely over. Now, both Delta and Omicron are contributing to the surge in Covid cases," George said.
Making it clear that the infectivity was very high these days, she said compared to the second wave, 5% more cases were expected this time around.
“Officials should take special precautions to avoid cluster formations in their respective institutions," she said.
Speaking about the surge in Omicron cases, she said although the new variant's severity is lesser, it has the potential to spread the disease five to six times more than the Delta variant and so it should not be taken lightly.
“Every single person should adhere to Covid protocol strictly to keep the pandemic under control," she said.
George also warned of stringent action against those spreading false information regarding the pandemic and vaccination through social media platforms.
Stating that a section of people is posting lies like Omicron is a "natural vaccine" and so it was not dangerous to contract the infection, she said such campaigns were baseless.
“Whatever be the variant, the basic characteristics of the novel coronavirus were the same and people should take extra care to keep the disease at bay," the minister said.
She also encouraged people to get vaccinated at the earliest, stating that it is the strongest defence against the infection.
Urging people to avoid unnecessary hospital visits, she said aged people and those having co-morbidities should take more care.
Rubbishing news reports stating that there was a scarcity of essential medicines in the state, she said the health department was fully prepared to tackle the situation and the slight rush witnessed by hospitals of late was natural.
There are 3,107 ICU beds in government hospitals across the state while 7,468 are there in private sector health facilities. There are 2,293 ventilator beds in government hospitals and 2,432 in private hospitals, she added.
The minister also urged the support of everyone, cutting across political lines and other differences, to deal with the situation and contain the disease effectively.
This comes as the President of Kerala Government Medical Officers Association on Tuesday said that the rising cases of Covid-19 in Kerala could be due to the presence of the Omicron variant.
He also said that the state has a limited facility for RT-PCR tests and it is shifting to antigen testing.
“Rapid growth in Covid-19 cases could be due to the presence of the Omicron variant. Cases are increasing in an exponential manner. Within 15 days, our test positivity rate reached 30% from the baseline of 4.5%," Dr GS Vijayakrishnan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"We have a limited facility to do RT-PCR tests and we are shifting to antigen tests. RT-PCR tests are pending for the last four to five days," he added.
Vijaykrishnan said that in the current Covid-19 scenario, the state is doing fine in terms of medicines except there is a shortage of an antibody cocktail.
"Nowadays, bed occupancy is very less. ICU, Oxygen and isolation bed occupancy are very less. At present, it is fine. But in coming days, there will be issues if there is a rapid increase in cases," he said.
Covid situation in state
Meanwhile, Covid-19 infections in Kerala on Tuesday witnessed a steep rise as the state reported 28,481 new positive cases, taking the infection count to 54,07,312.
George said the state had tested 80,740 samples in the 24 hours ending on Tuesday evening and there are over 1.42 lakh active COVID-19 cases in the state.
With inputs from agencies.
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