Kerala: LoP criticizes state govt on COVID surge; says TPR based curbs are unscientific

Speaking on Kerala Government's COVID-19 restrictions, LoP Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan said that the government has been depending on the test positivity rate (TPR) that is totally unscientific. The Kerala government has been following a certain pattern of lockdown by bringing weekend curfews followed by impositions on the operations of business establishments on weekdays with permissions to open on alternate days. 

Kerala's TPR based activities are unscientific

Speaking on the state government's activities, Leader of the Opposition, Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan said, "Govt is depending on test positivity rate that is also unscientific. Earlier, shops were open for 6 days and if you open for 1 then it increases crowd. Such restrictions are increasing the crowd that further creates the spread of Covid."

Kerala has been continuously imposing weekend lockdowns amidst rising cases of COVID-19 infections in the state. Also, the Government's decision to open shops on alternate days has contributed to the rise in the number of fresh cases. According to several health experts, enforcing weekend lockdowns and imposing curbs on the activities of shops or business establishments are not helping in bringing down the virus spread.

Covid-19 in Kerala

Kerala has seen a huge caseload in the past few days. This has resulted in many states putting restrictions on people travelling from Kerala. Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government had made RT-PCR tests mandatory for people coming from Kerala followed by Karnataka, who has mandated vaccination for anyone entering the state. 

The state has till now recorded 1,65,324 active cases taking the total number of confirmed cases to 34,25,473. 

Kerala Government Medical Officers' Association on Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, offering suggestions in order to contain the spread of COVID-19 across the state.

The association wrote that the present lockdown strategy to curb the COVID-19 is not effective as the only way to defeat the virus is through vaccination and by following appropriate Covid behaviour in public places. Suggestions such as restrictions in specific micro containment zones, more testing and tracing should be done and health officials to be given more powers to implement covid protocols effectively across the state.

(Image credits: ANI)