Number of Covid sufferers in Kerala might contact 6 lakh by May 15: Pinarayi tells Centre
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By Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has knowledgeable the Centre that will probably be “practically impossible” to permit oxygen to be taken exterior the state owing to the large home demand which will come up on account of rising Covid circumstances. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated the variety of Covid sufferers within the state is anticipated to rise to round six lakh by May 15. This would necessitate round 450 MT of oxygen, whereas the state’s buffer inventory is barely 86 MT, he identified.
“In order to manage the crisis the state had ensured 450 MT of buffer stock and has been managing oxygen without putting pressure on the national grid. However, due to demand from other states, the buffer stock was allowed to be transported,” Pinarayi stated.
The Chief Minister additionally urged the Centre to permit all the oxygen produced in Kerala (219MT) to be allotted to the state itself. However, on the premise of a route from the Central Committee on oxygen allocation, the state will permit 40MT of oxygen to Tamil Nadu as much as May 10, he assured. Even although the Covid Test Positivity Rate (TPR) has proven a slight decline over the previous few days within the state, the variety of recent circumstances reported from Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts continues to be on the rise, Pinarayi stated after assessing the state’s Covid state of affairs.
He additionally cautioned that the TPR of above 50% in 19 panchayats in Ernakulam district poses a ‘serious situation’. While sturdy preventive measures shall be adopted in Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam, the variety of Covid circumstances in different districts is slowly on the decline, the CM stated. “There are 72 panchayats in the state with TPR of above 50%. While TPR of over 30% has been reported in more than 300 panchayats, the active case load in 57 panchayats is between 500 and 2,000,” Pinarayi stated.
