“No community spread of Covid in Kerala”

Thiruvananthapuram: Citing statistics, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said that even though cases in Kerala are increasing, there is no community spread of Covid-19 cases in the state.

"The test positivity ratio in Kerala is below 2 per cent and stands at 1.7 per cent, while the national average is 5 per cent. Likewise, the case fatality ratio is 0.5 per cent. If these two ratios are high, then it is said that adequate testing is not there. Another reason why there is no community spread is because of contact tracing and scientific quarantine protocols in place here," he said.

Vijayan said that there are 62 fresh positive cases on Friday, of which 33 came from abroad and 23 from outside the state.

This includes two Air India cabin crew members besides two who returned to jail after their parole ended.

"At present, there are 577 positive cases and the total positive cases stand at 1,150. Today, there are 1,23,087 who are in isolation at centres, and homes and 1,080 are at hospitals. On Friday, 22 more hot spot areas have been announced taking the total to 101 in the state."

Vijayan also reiterated that there need be no worry of any community spread in the state and by now, over 80,000 tests have been conducted.

"We recorded the first positive case in the country on January 30 and after 100 days, we successfully flattened the curve. Now if we look into statistics, in Kerala, when 71 persons are tested, there is one positive, while in the country, it stands at 23:1. Another indicator that Kerala is far away from a community spread is when we look into the number of those who have turned positive from contacts. Of the present 577 positive cases, it is just 45 (10.09 per cent) who turned positive from contacts, while the national average is above 20 (per cent)," he said.