Two Days With No New Cases And 61 Recoveries In One Day, Kerala Now Has Just 34 COVID-19 Cases

On Monday, Kerala government announced that for the second consecutive day, the state has not recorded any new COVID-19 positive cases or new hotspots. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who has been holding daily press briefings on the COVID-19 situation in the state for well over a month now also announced that a total of 61 people who had been under treatment in various hospitals have tested negative and will be discharged soon.

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With that, the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 in Kerala rose to 462. As of Tuesday, there are just 34 active cases in the state. Since February, when the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in India, Kerala had recorded 500 cases (499 according to the state tally as it does not count a Mahe resident who was brought to Kannur for treatment).

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The recovery rate in Kerala is 92.59% while the national average is 27.4 %. What is even more impressive is the mortality rate in Kerala. The state has recorded only 4 deaths, including the Mahe resident (Mahe falls under Puducherry UT).

Kerala's COVID-19 mortality rate stood at 0.6% while the national average is 3.2%.

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Despite the impressive track record in containing the spread and keeping the mortality rate low, Kerala is refusing to let its guard down. As of Tuesday, a total of 21,724 people are in quarantine in the state with 21,352 of them at homes and 372 in hospital.

Kerala is was among states that went into lockdown even before the nationwide lockdown came into effect still have a lot of restrictions in place. Most importantly, the state which has the highest per capita liquor consumption rate in the country has refused to allow liquor sales to resume even in green zones.

If the massive crowds and chaos that was witnessed across the country on Monday is anything to go by, one can safely say that opening liquor shops now is a bad idea.

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Since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state in February, the 'Kerala Model' has won praises from within and across the globe for its effectiveness that has flattened the curve, which not many countries around the world have managed to do.

Unlike the rest of India, Kerala was swift to act on the first cases of COVID-19 and drew its experience from containing the Nipah virus outbreak in 2018.

By the time the second wave of COVID-29 cases hit the state, Kerala had already prepared thousands of hospital beds, in anticipation of the implosion of cases. It also had well-oiled machinery from the grassroot workers to the government ready for the challenge.

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The public health care system in Kerala, which is among the best in India also came handy when it came to dealing with the pandemic. And the efforts have paid off.

But Chief Minister Vijayan reminds Keralites every day that the worst may be over, but a careless attitude could bring it back and have repeatedly asked the people to stay vigilant.