CM Vijayan backs Kerala model despite state reporting over 65% India's cases in last day

While India on Friday reported 44,658 fresh cases and 496 fatalities owing to COVID in the last 24 hours. Kerala reported more than 30,000 cases of new infections during the period, informed the Union Health Ministry on Friday. The Union Health Ministry on Thursday expressed its concern over the surge in COVID cases in Kerala, however, Kerala Chief Minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan has decided to stick to his 'Kerala Model' which did not fail when the COVID second wave was on its peak. 

As per ANI, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in his article in CPI(M) party magazine 'Chintha' wrote, "If Kerala model is wrong in covid containment, then which model should we follow? No one had died in Kerala due to a lack of oxygen. No person was deprived of medical aid or medical bed."

Kerala CM on criticism over COVID handling

Vijayan further alleged that some people are trying to neglect the facts and "deliberately creating confusion." Several Opposition leaders have also condemned the government for inappropriate handling of the pandemic. 

Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, V Muraleedharan, on Thursday, said that the "carelessness" of the Kerala government, which is more focused on celebrating the anniversary of the Moplah riots, was the reason for the steep rise in COVID-19 cases and test positivity rate in the state. 

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee Working President PT Thomas said on Thursday that the state government had failed in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Some people are trying to neglect facts & deliberately creating confusion. There are some unnecessary controversies surrounding 2nd wave. Some sections are trying to create fear among people by portraying the high numbers during the second wave as a cause of concern," said Kerala CM Vijayan. 

"In all 3 seroprevalence studies conducted in the country, it was revealed that Kerala is the state with the least percentage of the population infected. We did not waste a single drop of vaccine and successfully inoculated extra doses," Vijayan further stated. 

Notably, Kerala Health Minister Veena George had said COVID-19 transmission within homes is increasing in the state. Amidst the spike in COVID-19 cases, George had also urged everyone to strictly follow the health department's guidelines.

"When a person in the house gets infected, it is transmitted to everyone in the house. This is because the home quarantine guidelines are not strictly followed. Only those who have required facilities at home can prefer home quarantine, others should shift to domiciliary covid care centres (DCC)," the Kerala health minister said in a press release. 

India's COVID situation

Kerala accounted for 65% of fresh COVID cases reported in India on Friday.  On Thursday, the state reported 30,007 new COVID-19 cases, 18,997 recoveries, and 162 deaths, as per the state health department. On Thursday, during a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the country is still in the midst of the second wave and raised concern over the ongoing COVID situation in Kerala. 

The Union Health Minister also stated that Kerala is the only state reporting over 1 lakh active COVID-19 cases, while four states have 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases and 31 states have below 10,000 active cases. 

(With Inputs from ANI)

(Image Credits: Facebook-Pinarayi Vijayan/PTI/Representative Image)