Kerala's COVID situation 'grave' due to Vijayan govt's 'inefficiency': MoS Muraleedharan

As Kerala has witnessed a sharp surge in its COVID-19 tally with over 30,000 fresh cases reported on 26 August, Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan hit out at the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led government for performing "inefficiently" towards the pandemic situation. The coastal state on Wednesday reported its highest single-day count after a gap of 3 months. Expressing his concerns over the worsening situation in the state, the MoS termed the current COVID scenario in the state as "grave".

V Muraleedharan on Kerala's COVID-19 situation

MoS Muraleedharan on Thursday spoke to ANI about the serious situation in Kerala as India has recorded a 22 per cent hike in the cumulative COVID-19 infections in the country. Highlighting that Kerala has maintained a good health infrastructure for several years, he noted that the current catastrophic situation shows the "inefficiency and incapacity" of the state government. He further talked about the measures taken by the state government as per the guidelines set up by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). He said that the state must follow the testing mechanism as suggested by the ICMR as testing numbers are very less in the state and there is a need to give more attention to controlling the spread of the virus. 

Cornering the state government for trying to use the pandemic for political objective, the MoS said, "The situation in Kerala is grave. The state, instead of using scientific methods to contain the spread, is trying to use pandemic for political objectives. I urge it to follow ICMR guidelines. Kerala's home quarantine plan has miserably failed."

Kerala sees spike in COVID-19 cases

Kerala has been leading the chart with the maximum number of COVID-19 cases. The state has recorded a nearly 30 per cent hike in the past 24 hours. The state government has witnessed a spike due to the annual festival, Onam. As per the latest report, Kerala has recorded 31,445 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the total infection count in the state to 38,83,429. 

Over the past few weeks, several districts from Kerala have been contributing to the national caseload. Despite restrictions and lockdown imposed by the state government, the numbers are quite alarming. Talking about its vaccination programme, the Kerala government said 59.55 lakh total vaccine doses have been administered till Wednesday. 

(With ANI inputs)

(Image Credits: PTI/ANI)