124,000 beds added to 1,426 hospitals in Kerala: CM Vijayan to PM Modi

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi that a total of 124,000 new beds were added to 1,426 hospitals in the state

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi that a total of 1.24 lakh new beds were added to 1,426 hospitals in the state.

Participating in a virtual meeting held by Modi with chief ministers of states witnessing a spike in the COVID-19 cases, Vijayan informed him about the steps taken by Kerala in containing the COVID-19.

"We have been able to reduce the pressure on hospitals with the widespread opening of covid Firstline Treatment Centers (FLTCs). In addition to the existing hospital beds, 1.24 lakh new beds have been set up in 1,426 institutions. The government has set up extensive facilities for testing. There are currently 2,113 labs for testing in both the government and private sectors. 58.09 lakh tests have already been conducted. About 30 per cent of these are RT-PCR tests," Vijayan said.

Chief Minister Vijayan informed Prime Minister Modi that the COVID-19 cases in the state were showing a declining trend since the second week of October.

"It is a relief that the number of recoveries is more than positive cases nowadays. So far 5.66 lakh people have been affected by the COVID-19 and 5 lakh of them were cured. The mortality rate was reduced to 0.4 per cent. The mortality rate has been reduced due to the effective implementation of the strategy of early detection and treatment and facilities in the public health sector. At present, the positivity rate is 10.54 per cent (as on November 23). The positivity rate has been declining for two weeks," he stated.

Vijayan sought central funds to help the needy who have lost their kin to the disease and also for assistance to ease the financial burden due to the delay in the GST compensation.

"The recommendations of the 15th finance commission should fully take into account the needs of the states. The states should be given more freedom to utilise the funds of the State Disaster Response Fund," he said.

As many as 5,420 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Kerala in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of active cases in the state to 64,412, the state health department said on Tuesday.

With 24 deaths in the last 24 hours, the death toll in the state now stands at 2,095.