For the first time since May 20, Kerala reported more than 30,000 fresh cases on Wednesday. The southern state has recorded 31,445 fresh infections and 215 deaths. It now has 1.7 lakh active cases and the test positivity rate is at 19 per cent. While cautioning that the coming four weeks are extremely crucial for the state, Health Minister Veena George has said that the government has no plans to impose a complete lockdown. She told the media that Kerala has been battling the current situation fairly well. “The government is targeting hundred per cent vaccination (first dose) for the targeted adult population by the end of September.
In terms of vaccination, Kerala goes above the national average,” said Veena George.Kerala with 3 per cent of India’s population accounts for 57 per cent of cases reported last week. In the coming weeks, Kerala may account for up to 75 per cent of cases in the country. In nutshell, the coming weeks are very crucial for Kerala,” says Dr Padmanabha Shenoy, a COVID-19 expert and rheumatologist. Other experts say the daily cases must have already crossed 25,000 in the state. “The number of tests has substantially come down over a week due to the festival and holidays. If we had kept the test high, we would have reached 25,000 already,” says Dr Arun N M. Active cases in the country have declined to 3.22 lakh. Kerala accounts for 1.59 lakh active cases. The state reported 24,296 cases, the highest in three months. Maharashtra reported 4,355 cases.