Centre turns the heat on Kerala, asks state to update Covid numbers daily

State had stopped daily updates on infections; once numbers eventually became known, country reported 90% spike in fresh cases, 165% surge in positivity rate the past 24 hours

The government of Kerala has faced the wrath of the Central government after it stopped providing daily updates on Covid-19 for the past four days. Once the numbers eventually became known, the country reported a 90 per cent increase in fresh cases and a 165 per cent increase in positivity rate during the past 24 hours. The Centre has now asked Kerala to update Covid numbers on a daily basis.

The Union Health ministry told the state principal secretary Rajan Khobragade in a letter that the state reported numbers after a gap of four days (From April 14-17) on Monday, due to which India’s key monitoring indicators like cases, deaths and positivity were impacted.

On Monday, Kerala added 914 new cases and 213 deaths, due to which India’s overall new cases spurted to 2,183, while deaths rose by 214. This was against 1,150 new cases and four deaths on Sunday. The last time Kerala had shared the numbers with the Centre was April 13, which according to the local media, followed a rapid fall in daily cases. The last time India saw over 2,000 cases was on March 19, when the tally hit 2,075.

“Quick and continuous update of data will assist in India's fight against Covid pandemic and will help not only in tracking and monitoring but will also help in defining the strategies and plans at the Centre, state and district levels,” the letter written by Centre health department said. It was Kerala that reported the first Covid case in India on January 30, 2020, when a Thrissur-native student from China was diagnosed with Covid. Since then the state had been continuously reporting Covid cases on a daily basis.

India's Active caseload currently stands at 11,542, with a recovery rate of 98.76 per cent. The daily positivity rate was seen at 0.83 per cent and weekly positivity Rate at 0.32 per cent. In the last 24 hours, 2,61,440 tests were conducted in the country.

"Daily and diligent reporting of data is critical to arrive at a meaningful understanding of pandemic in districts, state and national level and ensure that any anomalies, surge or emerging trends can be captured in a timely manner. This is especially relevant as it is a highly infectious disease and also has an associated risk of emergence of new variants," the letter added.

The rise in the number of cases in Delhi is also a cause of concern for the country as the national capital region contributed 517 fresh cases as compared to 461 cases on Sunday. Though several states had relaxed Covid restrictions, including the compulsory usage of masks, the sudden spike in cases have led to a cause of concern among many.