Thiruvananthapuram, April 20: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today applauded the efforts of the people in the State in containing the outbreak of the pandemic. “Medical professional, Health care workers, Government officials, sanitation workers, and the general public, in fact everyone worked together to achieve the single goal of restricting the spread of the Coronavirus in the State. They deserve to be appreciated. But at the same time, we cannot afford to take a break. Any carelessness on our part might make the situation disastrous and beyond control.”
Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said that there was a phase when Kerala accounted for the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the country but today we have the highest number of recovered cases. “Our recovery rate is the highest and our mortality rate due to Coronavirus is the lowest in the country at 0.58% as compared to the world average of 5.75% and 2.7% in India. For a State with high population density, Kerala has the maximum number of Covid-19 testing facilities. Kerala rolled out the first testing kiosk and is now ready for starting the plasma therapy trials, and is waiting for approvals from ICMR and Drugs Controller.”
It may be recalled that Kerala reported the first Coronavirus case in the country on January 30, in a student who had returned back from Wuhan in China. This was followed by two more students, both Wuhan returnees. The second wave of the infection hit the State on February 19 when a family of who had returned to Kerala from Italy tested positive. The number of new cases started increasing gradually as people who were coming to Kerala from other countries started reporting positive and this peaked on March 30 when the State had the highest number of 32 new cases being reported on a single day.
“There was a time when we thought the situation might go out of control. At one point, which was on April 04, we had the highest number of people under surveillance in the State, a total of 1,71,355 persons and today, it has come down to 46,323. The Kasargod district has in particular shown much resilience in fighting the pandemic in the last two months as the district had the highest number of 169 confirmed cases within the State. Now 142 have recovered and the rest 27 patients are on their way to recovery with no serious issues. The way Kasargod fought back should be a role model for the country”, the CM added.
The Chief Minister once again reiterated that there is no relaxation in safety guidelines during the lockdown period and the exemptions announced so far are in concurrence with the Central Government. He asked everyone to move towards more healthy and safe practices in our lifestyle. “The threat of Covid won’t go off immediately, we should learn new habits for the prevention of the infection and this should start from our children.”