COVID-19 test positivity rate going up in Kerala, virus spread beyond control, says IMA official

Kochi (Kerala) [India], January 25 (ANI): The coronavirus test positivity rate in Kerala is going up and the spread of the virus in the state is "beyond control", said Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, Scientific Advisor, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala on Monday.
He added the Intensive Care Units (ICU) dedicated to COVID-19 patients in the state are also getting full.
"In Kerala, the test positivity rate is going up. Yesterday's number of 12.48 percent is indicating the virus is spreading beyond control," Jayadevan told ANI.
"In Kerala, many people are testing daily and our ICUs are a reliable indicator of how many cases are there in the community. Slowly ICUs are getting full. Ten days ago, about 70 percent of the ICUs in Ernakulam district were full," he added.
The IMA official highlighted that social distancing guidelines have been relaxed in the last few months.
"Elections took place in December that meant there was a lot of social activity. Many gatherings are taking place. Cinema theatres have been opened. What we are saying now is only an expected outcome of what was happening in November and December," Jayadevan said.
"When elections are held, it was impossible to control the crowd. No matter how much we tried. It is impossible to enforce social distancing in an election," he added.
According to the Union Health and Welfare Ministry, at present, there are 73,121 active coronavirus cases in Kerala, 8,13,550 recovered from the disease while 3,607 died.
Kerala accounts for 39.7 per cent of the active cases, it said. (ANI)