Kerala May Witness A Spike In COVID-19 Cases In Next 2 Weeks Following Onam Celebration
Kerala will see a surge in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the state in the next couple of weeks, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has warned.
"The next two weeks period is crucial as we may see Onam clusters being formed in the State due to increased outdoor public activity and travel during the festival time. We can expect a hike in the Covid cases," he said.
He was referring to the Onam celebrations in Kerala earlier this week.
The harvest festival, which is also the biggest celebration in Kerala happened this year when the state was recording the highest number of COVID-19 cases till date.
This comes even after the government had cancelled official celebrations and banning outdoor functions by individuals and groups, social distancing and other COVID-19 precautions amid the festivities.
In the past couple of days, there has been a drop in the number of new cases.
The Kerala CM however attributed this slump to the less number of people being tested owing to the large number of public holidays which has also resulted in less samples being tested.
"Even though the number of new COVID cases being reported in the State has come down in the last few days, the test positivity rate was much higher than the usual rate and this is a matter of concern. Moreover, the number of tests being conducted in the last few days had also come down due to reluctance of people to go in for testing during the Onam festival time and a large number of public holidays," Vijayan said.
Last month, the Kerala government had warned that the worst of COVID-19 is yet to come.?
Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja?had said that coronavirus transmission in the state will increase rapidly in the coming months.
The minister said the state can expect 10,000-20,000 cases daily. She added that efforts are on to deal with it. Shailaja, however, added that there could be more deaths with the increase in the number of cases.
