Kerala reported 18,607 new Covid-19 cases on the first Sunday after it implemented a revised strategy for the containment of the pandemic, in which the test positivity rate (TPR) was replaced with a weekly infection population rate (WIPR) .

The weekend lockdown had been confined to Sundays, allowing normal life and business to carry on in other days, except areas with high WIPR calculated on the basis of infections reported every Wednesday multiplied by 1,000 and divided by the total population of the panchayat or urban ward.

Threshold WIPR of 10%

A WIPR of 10 per cent or above would, therefore, attract a triple lockdown and associated strict curbs. A Health Department spokesman said on Sunday that the State has 266 wards under 52 local self-government jurisdictions, with a WIPR of 10 per cent and cumulative TPR of 13.87 per cent. The northern districts of Malappuram (3,051); Thrissur (2,472); Kozhikode (2,467); Ernakulam (2,216); and Palakkad (1,550) topped the daily new Covid numbers on Sunday when 1,34,196 samples were tested. The day also reported 93 deaths taking over the past few days, taking the toll thus far to 17,747.

Vaccination in tribal areas

At least 4,90,858 persons are under observation across the State for symptoms, of which, 4,61,530 are quarantined at home/institutions, leaving only 29,328 in hospitals.

On Sunday, the 18-plus age group across seven tribal local body jurisdictions in Wayanad received the first dose of the vaccine.

The spokesman quoted Health Minister Veena George as saying that this feat was achieved not too long after the Health Department managed to inoculate all persons in the 45-plus age group in the inaccessible tribal areas across Wayanad and Kasaragod. Thirteen mobile teams had been deployed for this.

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