While the entire country has managed to plateau the second wave of China-made coronavirus pandemic, the non-BJP states in Maharashtra and Kerala are still failing to contain the first wave of the virus. Kerala accounted for 14,373 new cases, nearly a third of the 43,994 fresh cases recorded in the country on Tuesday while Maharashtra logged 8,418 new cases. The two states together made up more than half of India’s Covid count yesterday, and it has been the same story for the last few months.
According to fresh statistics, Kerala on Tuesday recorded its highest single-day spurt in Covid-19 cases in 26 days. The spike comes on the back of a 7 per cent increase in fresh cases in the state last week as compared to the previous seven days.
Whenever talking about the caseload of Kerala, the liberals often fall onto the statistic of Case Fatality Rate (CFR), citing it as the lowest in the country. However, the Kerala Government, after hiding the numbers has now decided to revise the list of COVID-19 deaths by adding the names reported by the districts but excluded at the state-level
The exercise to revise the COVID death toll is expected to raise the CFR. Kerala’s present CFR of 0.46, which could almost double to 1 after the update. India’s overall reported CFR is 1.31 per cent, one of the lowest in the world and alarmingly, Kerala as a state will be reaching near the percentage alone.
Look at the daily numbers. And look at UP’s number.
3rd wave will come. Kerala and Maharashtra will make it a possibility. And of course it won’t remain confined to these 2 states. It will come for everyone one of us. Media is shamefully silent because these are non-NDA states. pic.twitter.com/YzqVGcP7xa
— Atul Kumar Mishra (@TheAtulMishra) July 7, 2021
Kerala’s model of healthcare has failed spectacularly in the state as the cases continue to rise on an upward surge. Despite the state being in a lockdown for close to two months now and economic activities drying up, the caseload in Kerala has failed to go down.
While the cases were still on the rise, the Pinarayi Vijayan government opened up the sale of alcohol in the state in absence of proper COVID protocols. As reported by TFI, on the first day of the liquor sales resuming, the state-owned Beverages Corporation (Bevco) outlets alone sold liquor worth Rs 64 crore in a day. In addition to this, the outlet run by Consumer fed saw a business of around Rs 8 crore on the same day.
The intellectual cheerleaders of the Kerala model have fallen completely silent and the Lutyens media that went gaga over the so-called model is nowhere to be seen. The Chief Minister and his former star Health Minister Shailja Teacher, who even received an award from the UN for tackling the coronavirus cases but was later dropped like a sack of potatoes from the cabinet have completely botched up the response.
As for Maharashtra, experts are claiming that the third wave of the pandemic is likely to hit the state in July itself. The problems have been further compounded by the fake vaccine scam where 4,018 people were allegedly cheated and inoculated with saline water.
It’s been three weeks since the fake vaccination scam surfaced but the puzzled and clueless Maha Vikas Aghadi government has no concrete plan of action about what to do in terms of vaccinating the victims.
While Kerala and Maharashtra are miserably failing, India’s most populous state in Uttar Pradesh has done wonders in keeping the virus at bay. Not only is UP setting new records in testing, but it has also managed to keep the case count in three figures on a daily basis.
The reason for UP’s fightback against the invisible enemy has been the astute preparedness under the Yogi Adityanth administration. As reported by TFI, the Yogi government in April had decided to deploy retired doctors, retired personnel of the armed forces and para-medical staff into service to counter the caseload. And it appears that the pre-emptive measures have started to pay dividends.
Read More: To deal with Covid-19 crisis, Yogi Adityanath decides to rope in retired doctors, paramedical staff
However, all will count for nothing if Maharashtra and Kerala continue to cough up such high numbers. The first and second waves started from these two states only and later engulfed the entire country.