"Expected This...": Kerala Health Minister On Continuing Covid Infections

Kerala also has a high share of susceptible persons in its population, resulting in higher number of infections, Health Minister Veena George said.

The continuing reportage of a large number of Covid infections in Kerala is part of its strategy in fighting the pandemic and is no cause of alarm, the state's new Health Minister Veena George has said. Overall, infections have plateaued and a similar trend was seen in the first wave, too, according to her. She termed the phenomenon "dragging the wave". Kerala, along with Maharashtra, now reports the most number of new COVID-19 cases every day, accounting for almost 30 per cent of India's daily tally. Ms George, who recently replaced the much-lauded KK Shailaja in the role to the surprise of most people, counters suspicions of slippage in caution saying that despite a high share of susceptible persons in the state's population, only 20 per cent or 21 per cent of them may have been infected even now. In the first wave, she said, it was only 11 per cent. She cited a sero surveillence study to make her point. "The second wave started in our state by the middle of April. We had our peak on May 12 -- that was around 43,000 cases on a single day. And then it went on decreasing. Now it's around 10,000. Now we are having a plateau," Ms George told NDTV in an exclusive interview.