Rise in new cases, as expected, Kerala well prepared: Chief Minister

Thiruvananthapuram, May 29: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today disclosed that the State is well prepared to handle the increasing number of new cases which was expected with a large number of people coming back from other places. He also assured that as of now there is no community spread of the pandemic in Kerala.

Briefing the media about the daily Covid situation, Chief Minister said, “There is no need for concern over the rising number of new positive cases. This was expected with the relaxation in lockdown guidelines also and we have prepared the preventive plans accordingly. We are increasing the number of tests to check any community spread.”

The Medical Services Corporation has been allotted Rs 620.71 crores for Covid management and so far Rs 227.35 crores has been spent. Currently, there are 12,191 isolation beds in government hospitals available in the state and only 1,080 people are isolated in hospitals. The 1,296 government hospitals have 49,702 beds, 1,369 ICU beds and 1045 ventilators. The 866 hospitals in the private sector have 81,904 beds, 6,059 ICU beds and 1,578 ventilators. There are 851 corona care centres in the state.

“The Test Positive Rate (TFR) in Kerala is 1.7% as compared to the 5% TFR in the country. Our Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is 0.5%. High CFR and TPR indicate fewer tests but here it's the opposite. Our improved public health system, efficient contact tracing and scientific quarantine are the keys to this achievement. So far we have conducted 80,091 tests in total, all types included. Our numbers are high. Our count is 2,335 tests per 10 lakh people. We have one positive case for every 71 tests while the national average is one for every 23 tests. This means we are conducting thrice the number of tests of the national average”, the CM said.

So far, 1,33,249 Pravasi Malayalees have returned to the State, 73,421 came from Red Zones. Of the total 644 cases since May 10, only 65 were cases of local transmission, which is 10.09%. Out of the current 557 active cases, only 45 persons have contracted the disease through contact.

“To check the possibility of community spread, sentinel surveillance and augmented tests are being conducted and only four each positive cases were detected so far. 29 positive cases were detected from pooled tests of returning pravasies. Based on these results, we can confidently say that there is not community spread in Kerala”, he added.

Till now, 28 health workers have contracted the disease in Kerala. This includes hospital medical staff, ASHA workers, public health workers etc who were involved in patient care and were in direct contact with Covid patients.

Minister of Health & Social Justice, Smt K K Shailaja Teacher; Revenue Minister, Shri E Chandrasekharan, and Chief Secretary, Shri Tom Jose IAS who retires this month, were also present for the briefing.

Kerala Covid-19 Tracker

62 new cases & 10 recoveries today, total 577 patients under treatment

22 new hotspots, total 101

Thiruvananthapuram, May 29: 62 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Kerala today. Briefing the media, Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan said 33 of the new cases are in people who have come back to the State from other countries, 23 are those who returned from other States, one is a case of local transmission, two are remand prisoners in jail, one is a health worker and two are Air India cabin crew members.

The district-wise details of those confirmed with the virus infection are 14 persons in Palakkad district, seven from Kannur district, six in Thrissur district, five each from Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Malappuram districts, four each in Ernakulam and Kasargod districts, three in Alappuzha district, two each from Wayanad and Kollam districts, and one each in Kottayam, Idukki and Kozhikode districts

13 persons from UAE, nine from Kuwait, seven from Saudi Arabia, three from Qatar and one from Oman are the 33 who returned from abroad while 10 people each from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, and one each from Karnataka, Delhi and Punjab are the 23 who came back from other States.

The CM also informed the death of a Pathanamthitta native who was undergoing treatment in Kottayam district.

At the same time, ten patients under treatment for the disease have tested negative today. Five patients in Wayanad district, two in Kozhikode district and one each in Kannur, Malappuram and Kasargod districts are those who recovered from Coronavirus.

There are in total 1,150 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the State and 577 patients are now under treatment in different hospitals.

1,24,167 persons are under surveillance across the State. 1,23,087 are under home or institutional quarantine and 1,080 are isolated in hospitals. 231 people were hospitalised today.

So far, 62,746 samples have been sent for testing and 60,448 samples have been confirmed with no disease. As part of sentinel surveillance of people with higher public contact, 11,468 samples were collected for testing and 10,635 samples have tested negative.

22 new places were declared as hotspots today and now there are totally 101 hotspots in the State.

Till now, 1,21,291 people have arrived in Kerala from other States and overseas - 94,812 by road, 15,926 by flights, 8,932 by trains and 1,621 by ships.

December roll out for Kerala’s ambitious K-FON free Internet project

Thiruvananthapuram, May 29: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan announced that the Rs. 1,500 crores Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) project to provide free internet connectivity to the poor and to others at an affordable rate will be rolled out by December. He said this after a meeting today with the head of companies of the consortium executing the project.

The consortium consists of public sector companies, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Railtel, and private companies such as SRIT and LS Cables. A joint venture between Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited and KSEB are implementing the K-FON project. Optical fibre cables are being laid using KSEB posts to give connection to customers.

Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said, “Kerala is the first state to declare the Internet as a fundamental right of the citizen. As part of this, the K-FON project was launched to provide quality internet free to the poor and to others at affordable rates. No other state in India has implemented such a scheme. Despite the delay due to the lockdown, M V Gautam, CMD of consortium leader BEL, has promised to complete the project by December this year. Other stakeholders in the consortium have also agreed to this. The completion of this project will be a great benefit to Kerala. The IT department is monitoring the progress of the project. The Government has requested all stakeholders of the Consortium to participate in the development of Kerala and invest in it.”

The K-FON network will provide internet connectivity to schools, hospitals, government offices and other public institutions. The project will be a catalyst for the knowledge-based economy envisioned by the State. This will also spur efforts to attract industrial investments to Kerala.

The importance and relevance of the Internet will grow in the post-Covid scenario. The use of the Internet in sectors such as education and banking will greatly increase. K-Fon will be a major support for the government's efforts to develop Kerala as the world's leading industrial, educational and tourism destination”, the CM added.