On Tuesday, several media outlets in the nation reported that Covid cases in Kerala have started plummeting. Most of the leading newspapers and online media outlets in India published this news after Kerala witnessed 12,294 fresh Covid cases. It should be noted that the state has been witnessing more than 20,000 daily cases over the past couple of weeks and the sudden decline in fresh coronavirus cases has made many people believe that the ongoing wave of Covid in the state has started waning.
Less number of tests, less number of fresh cases
On Monday, the state authorities revealed that 87,578 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. Out of the 87,578 samples tested, 12,294 samples turned positive, which means the daily test positivity rate (TPR) is 14.03 percent.
Over the past couple of weeks, the Kerala government has been testing more than 1,50,000 samples every day, and as a result, the number of fresh cases was above 20,000. When the number of samples was reduced on Sunday, the number of fresh cases were also declined, and it does not mean that the ongoing wave of the pandemic in Kerala has started slowing down.
Moreover, the crucial TPR factor which determines the intensity of the pandemic in a region is very high in Kerala, when compared to other states in India. The TPR in Kerala has never gone below 10 percent over the past few months, and after the lifting of lockdown restrictions, the daily test positivity rate slowly moved up and is nearing 15 percent.
Kerala model failing in the battle against coronavirus
During the first wave of the Covid pandemic in India, Kerala was one of those states in India that tackled the worst-case scenario effectively. The measures adopted by the state received international recognition, and everybody hailed the impeccable Kerala model and the state's efficient healthcare infrastructure.
However, during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, things take an unexpected turn, and the state slowly became the epicenter of the pandemic in India. Even though the vaccination rollout is progressing steadily in Kerala, the elevated TPR strongly indicates the fact that the much-celebrated Kerala model has failed in the battle against coronavirus.
