Health Ministry asks Kerala govt to update COVID numbers daily amid surge in cases

Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal, on Monday, wrote a letter to Kerala Principal Secretary Rajan Khobragade regarding intensive monitoring of coronavirus cases at the state as well as district levels. He further asked the state government to adopt suitable steps in order to monitor the COVID-19 tally and sought the timely updating of data. 

In the letter, Lav Agarwal underlined that the Kerala government had reported its state-level coronavirus data after a gap of five days since April 13. He said that it is mandatory for the government to report the data daily and diligently to arrive at a meaningful understanding of the pandemic situation at the districts, state, and national levels and ensure that any anomalies, uptick, or emerging trends can be captured in a timely manner.

"Quick and continuous update of data will assist in India's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and will help not only in tracking and monitoring but will also help in defining the strategies and plans at the Centre, State, and District level," Agarwal further wrote in the letter. The Health Ministry requested the Kerala government to ensure daily updation of required details is undertaken by the state to the Union Ministry of Health. 

The letter comes as the state government, nearly a week ago, had announced they have stopped publishing the daily COVID-19 cases officially. The number of bulletins issued by the Kerala government exceeds even the bulletins issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) during the pandemic. 

On April 11, in a brief announcement made through the office of the Health Minister, the officials had informed the media that daily COVID-19 updates will not be issued henceforth. The announcement said that daily updates had become an insignificant activity now that the COVID disease transmission in the State ceased to pose a threat to the community at large. 

India witnesses 90% jump in daily COVID cases

Meanwhile, India recorded a 90% jump in its daily COVID figures, raising concerns of yet another coronavirus outbreak. In the last 24 hours, 2,183 fresh COVID-19 cases have been reported and there have been a total of 214 deaths. Kerala has a backlog of 212 deaths, of which 62 have been cleared as a result of court appeals. The state reported 150 deaths between April 13 and April 16.