Kerala performing well on all COVID-19 parameters as decided by WHO, ICMR, says Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], September 5 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that the State is doing well on all COVID parameters as decided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) despite the rising number of new active cases.
According to an official release, addressing the media about the COVID situation in the State here on Saturday, the Chief Minister said, "As compared to most of the other States, Kerala has performed well due to our proactive COVID preventive measures. Even though the numbers of new cases are increasing, we could contain the spread of the pandemic. The level of caution and actions taken here as part of the defence activities can be seen in comparison to the situation in other states. Whatever the indicators, we are dealing with this pandemic in a relatively better way."
The number of cases per million gives an idea about how many people per million people were infected. Kerala has 2,168 cases per million as against the national average of 2,731. Andhra Pradesh has 8,479 cases per million and it is more than 5,000 in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We must also remember that we are far ahead of these states in terms of population density.
Kerala is far ahead of neighbouring states in the number of active cases. As on September 01, there were 22,578 active cases in the state as compared to 91,018 active cases in Karnataka and 52,379 cases in Tamil Nadu, according to the release.
Kerala has a strict discharge policy where the patient is discharged only after the antigen test is negative while in most other States, they are discharged after 10 days if there are no symptoms. The government is not ready to compromise on its determination to do its utmost to ensure the safety of the people.
Kerala has one of the lowest mortality rate of 8.4 deaths per million as compared to the national average of 48. The neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu it is almost 11 times higher than ours while in Karnataka, the death toll is about 12 times higher.
The case fatality rate is the number of deaths per 100 infected persons. In Kerala, it is 0.4 while it is 1.7 in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and 0.9 in Andhra Pradesh.
"Ours is the most populous state in India in terms of the number of elderly and those suffering from diseases like cancer and diabetes. Yet maintaining the lowest death toll is a testament to the excellence of our work across the country. Kerala is far ahead in terms of tests as well. It follows the methods defined by agencies like the World Health Organization and the ICMR. Accordingly, if we use the scientific indicator tests per Million by Case per Million, we can see that we are conducting tests in a better way", the CM said.
Kerala's test per million by case per million is 22. This means that when 22 people are tested, one person is diagnosed with the disease. In Tamil Nadu, it is 11 and 8.4 in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
It is advisable to have a low test positivity rate. Kerala has a test positivity rate of 4.3 as compared to 8.9 in Tamil Nadu and 11.8 in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. These figures show that Kerala has conducted Tests better than these states.
"Even though these parameters are low, we will not stop here. The government will analyze these figures and take all possible steps to reduce the spread of the disease in the coming days", he added.