Recently, in December, there has been an increase in the number of COVID cases in Kerala. The total number of cases reported in November was over 470. Whereas, just in the first two weeks of December, the number of positive cases rose to more than 800. On Thursday, the Union Health Ministry provided the figures, according to which India saw 1,185 new cases of coronavirus infections. Kerala is the state with the highest number of instances reported (1039).
The Health Ministry stated that this could be attributed to prompt testing and reporting and also to the climatic conditions. According to the news reports published on December 13, over 11,000 people had presented with symptoms of fever, cough, and wheezing on a single day across the state, and over 170 patients had sought inpatient admission.
Doctors across the state have also noticed an increase in patients exhibiting symptoms including a high temperature, cough, wheezing, and breathing difficulties at medical centers, based on news reports. Doctors stress that there's no need to become alarmed despite the spike. Kerala has the highest daily and ongoing caseload in the country, peaking on December 7 at 157 cases.
Dr. Sunny P. Orathel, the medical superintendent of Rajagiri Hospital, stated that more cases of COVID are identified when testing among patients who presented with symptoms of respiratory infection and tested negative for flu. He also noted that the symptoms associated with COVID had aggravated, thanks to environmental air pollution and climatic changes.
Dr. Muhammed Niyas, Associate Consultant for the Infectious Diseases Department at KIMS Health, Thiruvananthapuram, reported in his press report that although COVID cases are increasing again, the symptoms and the condition are thankfully manageable as the infection is of a moderate degree and not very serious in most of the patients. However, he added that the elderly population and patients with preexisting health conditions should remain cautious, as they could suffer a more intense form of the infection.
(Input from various media sources)
(Rehash/Bharkhavy K V)