The demand for oxygen beds has shot up with an increase in ICU occupancy in Kerala as the state is witnessing a spur in Covid-19 cases fuelled by the Omicron variant of the virus. With 24 hours, Kerala has reported a 15% increase in ICU occupancy and 20% in oxygen beds.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Wednesday cautioned people against the “super-spread” of the pandemic and said both Delta and Omicron variants of the virus are contributing to the ongoing unprecedented surge in daily cases. Contrary to the first and second waves, there is rapid spread of the disease in the third wave in the beginning itself, she said at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
Meanwhile, public health experts have warned that senior citizens and those with comorbidities are most vulnerable this time, The Times of India reported. Anish TS, associate professor of community medicine at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, said that in case the denominator is very large, “even a mild variant can cause serious issues”.
“Hospital admissions and demand for ICU and oxygen has already increased within a day,” she said.
COVID-19 infections in Kerala continued to witness a steep rise as the state on Wednesday logged 34,199 fresh positive cases, taking the infection count to 54,41,511. The state had reported 28,481 cases on Tuesday.
The State health department said the state had tested 91,983 samples in the last 24 hours and there are 1.68 lakh active COVID-19 cases. On Wednesday, Kerala recorded 134 deaths, taking the toll to 51,160.
Among today’s fatalities, 49 were recorded over the last few days and 85 designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court. “Currently, there are 1,68,383 active COVID-19 cases in the state out of which only 3.2 per cent are admitted to hospitals,” the Health department said in a release.
Among the districts, Ernakulam reported 5,953 new cases, followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 5,684 and Kozhikode with 3,386. Of those found infected today, 125 reached the state from outside while 33,195 contracted the disease from their contacts. The source of infection of 596 is yet to be traced. As many as 283 health workers are also among the infected. Meanwhile, 8,193 people recovered from the infection on Wednesday, taking the total cured to 52,44,206.
Meanwhile, the government secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram reported a big outbreak of the illness. Six staff members, including the political secretary, have tested positive in the CM’s office while restrictions have been imposed in the forest, devaswom and health ministers’ offices after many personal staff members were infected.
The office of Vijayan was closed on Tuesday after quite a few of the staff including his political secretary has turned Covid positive. Besides on Tuesday, state Education Minister V. Sivankutty also turned positive and is now admitted to a private hospital. Sivankutty took active part in the Thiruvananthapuram district CPI-M party conference which ended a few days back.
The offices of many Ministers in the State Secretariat have reported positive cases and the latest news on Tuesday is there were 72 positive cases, forcing the employees writing to Vijayan to see that something is done.
(With input from agencies)
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