• Home
• /
• coronavirus
• /
• Life and Living

India Covid: Highly infectious variants detected in 90% patients in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram - The state will be clamped under a lockdown from Saturday as a worried government takes measures to battle the crisis.

The Covid crisis in Kerala is turning critical, with the state recording the highest single-day spike of 42,464 new cases on Thursday, taking the active tally to 390,906. With 63 deaths, the total has gone up to 5,628.

According to the official data cited by the media, variants of the virus have been detected in 90 per cent of the cases and get transmitted from one person to three people through contact. The worst-hit districts in the state are Ernakulam and Thrissur, which are reporting an average of 50 deaths daily.

Covid in India: Scare mounts as patients fill Kerala hospitals

The state will be clamped under a lockdown from Saturday as a worried government takes measures to battle the crisis. "The entire State of Kerala will be under lockdown from 6 am on 8 May to 16 May. This is in the background of a strong 2nd wave of Covid-19,” tweeted Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister, citing the ‘serious Covid situation.’

"Kerala is going through a serious situation with COVID spreading rapidly in the state,” he said. “The test positivity rate (TPR) is not coming down. The situation calls for imposing more restrictions in the state.”

With the massive crisis in the state, the Kerala high court also stepped in and asked the government to ensure uniform tariff for treatment of Covid-19 at private hospitals. "When the public is putting all life savings (for treatment), the private hospitals can also sacrifice," said justice Devan Ramachandran. The court was responding to a plea claiming that private hospitals were exploiting the pandemic and fear among the people with their hefty charges.