Health minister urges utmost caution; to intensify testing in state

Thiruvananthapuram: Health minister Veena George said that though the number of Covid cases are increasing in Kerala, there is no need to worry and we need to continue our utmost caution to prevent its spread.
The minister convened a high-level meeting to review the situation and took a decision to intensify testing in state in the coming week.
“Specific instructions have been given to find whether there is a cluster formation in state. Till date, no cluster formation has been reported. Tests are also being conducted to find if any new variant of the virus has been found in Kerala. The genome sequencing of samples has been intensified,” she said.
George said at present there is no need to worry as the number of hospital cases aren’t increasing. Of the 1,026 positive cases, 111 people were admitted at various hospitals. All facilities are kept ready at hospitals in case of an emergency. Only in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam more cases are being reported, she added.
The health minister made a detailed presentation in the cabinet meeting on Thursday about the present situation in state. She also explained what facilities are kept ready to meet an emergency.
It was on Tuesday that the state reported 172 in a single day; the highest number after a gap of some months. Following this, health department issued an alert to all district health administration to find if any local spread was reported anywhere.
Also, local bodies were asked to closely monitor the possibility of a cluster formation in their regions. Apart from this, district health administration has been asked to keep a tab on the number of hospital cases due to Covid.