NEWS

Kerala is heading for an explosion in Covid-19 cases. The state seems to be paying a high price for relaxing Covid vigil during the recent assembly election campaign. A month-long aggressive campaign, including roadshows by political parties, is now being seen as one of the key reasons behind the second wave of Covid infections—with test positivity rate touching 17.04 per cent when screening 81,211 samples on April 17. Test positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of the total who underwent a test.

Infections are now spreading fast. Over 452 hotspots have been identified across the state and around 5,831 persons were arrested on April 14 for not using masks. As per Union health ministry data, Kerala had 80,342 total active cases as on April 18, and was the fifth worst-affected state/Union territory.

As India continues to reel under the second wave of Covid, the union home ministry has taken certain matters into its hands with several states complaining of a shortage of medical oxygen supply.

The union home secretary, Ajay Bhalla, has written to all the chief secretaries of states to ensure there is enough availability of adequate and uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen since it is an important pre-requisite for managing moderate and severe Covid-19 cases.

In his letter, the home secretary emphasised that medical oxygen is an essential public health commodity and any hurdle in the supplies of medical oxygen may "critically impact" the management of patients suffering from Covid-19 disease in other parts of the country.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has asked Delhi LG Anil Baijal and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to impose a 15-day lockdown in the state to arrest the rapid growth of COVID-19 infections. Stating that Delhi is sitting on a 'COVID bomb' with 25 per cent corona positivity rate, the traders' body wanted strict measures of checking to be deployed at airports, railway stations, bus stands and all borders of Delhi to ensure that no COVID-19 affected person enters the state. 

Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, CAIT said that Delhi's trade organisations are fully geared to supply essential commodities to people living in Delhi and are ready to assist the government in every possible way if a lockdown is announced. He has sought a meeting of prominent trade leaders of Delhi with both LG and CM .

In a review meeting regarding Covid-19 preparedness held on Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked the officials to increase the oxygen beds capacity and improve other infrastructural requirements in the national capital as a preparatory measure to tackle the humongous caseload of the viral disease.

Officials said that bed management was discussed in detail in the meeting.

Kejriwal asserted the focus of the Delhi government should be towards increasing the bed capacity, which will ensure adequate treatment for the people who require urgent assistance, they added.