Ramp Up COVID Vaccination, Complete Sero-survey, Central Health Team Asks Kerala Government

New Delhi: The Central Health Team on a visit to Kerala, where COVID cases have been rising, has asked the state to ramp up vaccination and complete the Sero survey as soon as possible, informed a source. “The central team has asked the state of Kerala to accelerate vaccination and complete the Sero survey as soon as possible,” the source said. The six-member high-level multidisciplinary team visited six districts that were reporting a high number of cases. The state has been asked to conduct its own Sero survey which would help them to know the Sero positivity level better in the population.

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The central team believes that since Kerala is an urban village demography, hence, lockdown would not have a great effect unless it is strictly monitored, the source further said. Unless there is proper monitoring, the infection will be difficult to contain, the team further said, as per the source. The visit of the Central Health Team was followed by a briefing with the Chief Secretary of the state and secretaries of various other departments along with the Health Department on August 2.

The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is concerned about the surge in the number of COVID cases in the state. It is also worried that more than half the population is vulnerable to viruses, an NCDC official earlier told ANI. Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has also written to the state government on super spreader events observed in Kerala in the recent past.

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Earlier, the Centre had advised that states should conduct State-specific Sero Surveys in consultation with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to generate district-level data on seroprevalence. The findings would guide the formulation of localised public health responses for COVID-19 management Kerala is observing a complete lockdown at the weekends and five days of normal functioning.

In the last 24 hours, Kerala reported 13,984 new Covid-19 cases, 15,923 recoveries and 118 deaths. The positivity rate stood at 10.93 percent. The total caseload of active cases for Kerala is 1,65,322 while total recoveries are 32,42,684. The death toll stands at 16,955.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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