The Health Minister said that the Omicron variant is highly contagious and the number of patients in ICU and ventilator can increase rapidly at any time. He said that Omicron is 6 times more infectious than the delta variant.
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corona virus infection in keralaCorona virus KeralaThe third wave of ) is showing widespread impact. On Wednesday, 34,199 new cases of infection were reported in the state and the positivity rate was 37.17 percent (ie 37 infected in 100 people tested). At the same time, 134 people died due to infection in the last 24 hours, due to which the number of people who lost their lives due to COVID in the state increased to 51,160. Earlier on Tuesday, 28,481 new cases had come in the state. At the same time, 54 cases of Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19, were also reported in the state, taking the number of people infected with this variant to 645.
According to the state health department, the number of active patients in Kerala has increased to 1,68,383, in which only 3.2 percent people are hospitalized. On Wednesday, the maximum number of cases were reported in Ernakulam 5,953, Thiruvananthapuram 5,684 and Kozhikode 3,386 new cases. In Thiruvananthapuram, the positivity rate has been recorded at 45.8 percent, that is, about half of the total samples taken are positive. Apart from this, the infection rate was 44.59 percent in Ernakulam, 40.53 percent in Kozhikode and 39.05 percent in Kottayam.
The Indian Express quoted health department data as saying that there has been an increase of 211 percent in the new cases of infection in the state during the last one week. Health Minister Veena George said that the effect of the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is visible in the state. He said, “There was a delay in reaching the peak in the first and second wave, but the cases are increasing very fast in the beginning of the third wave. The next three weeks are very important for Kerala.”
‘The number of ICU and ventilator patients may increase’
The Health Minister said that the Omicron variant is highly contagious and the number of patients in ICU and ventilator can increase rapidly at any time. He said that Omicron is 6 times more infectious than the delta variant. Amidst the rapidly increasing cases of COVID in the state, the government has decided to hold a review meeting on Thursday to implement the restrictions more strictly.
The state government said the closure of colleges and offices, public transport and other restrictions will be discussed in Thursday’s meeting. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has gone abroad for treatment, will chair the meeting online. Due to the spread of infection among the employees, the offices of some ministries have been partially closed, which is affecting the functioning of the government.
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