Thiruvananthapuram, June 9, BPNS
For the third straight day, the state had more than 2000 fresh cases of Covid-19. With this, the active case tally is rising in the state. On Thursday, 2415 Covid cases were newly reported. At the same time, dengue, leptospirosis, and scrub typhus cases were also spiking in the state. Commenting on the Covid scenario in the state, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan calls for high alertness and the use of facemasks in crowded places and schools.
“Administration of second dose vaccination will have to speed up. So is the case with booster doses,” said the CM.
Though 6879 new Covid cases were recorded in the last three days, the health department said that there is not an alarming situation as those who are getting infected are having mild symptoms and hospitalization cases are comparatively low.
“The focus now is on bringing dengue, leptospirosis, and scrub typhus under control. In this month alone, 189 dengue fever cases, 92 leptospirosis cases, and 14 scrub typhus cases were reported,” said an official.
As per the stats, 40 dengue fever cases were reported on Thursday with 29 such cases coming from Ernakulam itself. In the case of leptospirosis, nine confirmed cases and in the case of scrub typhus, two confirmed cases were reported on the day.
Meanwhile, to speed up the laboratory diagnosis of leptospirosis in the state, four more labs were equipped with a real-time PCR kit for leptospirosis which is designed for the in vitro quantification of Leptospira bacteria species.
The new facility is now available at Pathanamthitta and Ernakulam public health labs, which will come into effect within a week, and at Kozhikode and Kannur labs, which will become operational shortly. At present, such a facility is available only at the State Public Health Lab and at Thrissur medical college.
“Usually IgM ELISA test is conducted to determine leptospirosis and that facility is available at all government medical college hospitals, major hospitals, and public health labs. But it takes time. That is one will have to wait at least eight days to determine the disease. But in the case of RtPCR, within three or four days it can be diagnosed,” said an official.
