Thiruvananthapuram: There is no need for registration at local bodies for receiving vaccines, Health Minister Veena George informed the Kerala Assembly on Wednesday.
Fifty per cent of bookings are done through the Covid Portal and the rest is spot registration, the minister said.
She said the only condition laid down by the government was that those who apply for vaccines should try to do it from the quota available for the local body and the ward to which they belonged.
COVID-19 TPR and death rate still alarming
Amid clamour for further relaxations in the existing pandemic-related curbs, the Kerala Government stressed that the State still cannot lower its guard as two significant indicators about the stranglehold of COVID-19 are still at an alarming level.
The Total Positivity Rate (TPR) and the death rate are still high, the Health Minister said.
As per Wednesday's figures, the TPR for the disease stood at 14.49%. In all 116 COVID-19 deaths too were confirmed on Wednesday.
However, the intensity of the pandemic in the State has gone down. The number of cases admitted to hospitals and ICUs is on the decline, the Minister stated.
Kerala reported 23,500 new COVID cases and 19,411 recoveries on Wednesday. With this, the number of active COVID cases in the state rose to 1,75,957.
"The fatality rate is high because critical patients are admitted to hospitals after developing complications. The density of Kerala is said to be the main reason for high TPR reported in the State," the Minister clarified.
The cumulative COVID-19 death toll in Kerala now stands at 18,120 as per official figures.
566 wards with IPR higher than 8%
566 wards in Kerala registered an infection population ratio (IPR) higher than 8%. Restrictions will be imposed on these wards to limit the Covid spread here.
The IPR based list of local bodies was released on Wednesday.
Malappuram recorded the maximum spread with 171 wards showing an IPR greater than 8 per cent. Palakkad stood second with 102 wards.
The IPR is a weekly figure and indicates the number of positive cases among 1000 people in a local body area (panchayat/municipality/corporation).
Vaccine drive for 60+ to be over by Aug 15
Meanwhile, Local Body Minister M.V.Govindan told the Assembly that the vaccination drive for people above 60 years of age would be completed by August 15.
The community kitchen under the local self-government bodies would be restarted as per demand.
Around 25,000 Kudumbasree units, with 50 educated members in each unit, would be opened in the State. The new units would prepare projects in each place by tapping the employment scope of the particular area.
The scheme to supply medicines and various other services to senior citizens and those who are down with critical ailments or those who are incapacitated with various diseases would be launched in 50 local bodies on an experimental basis, he said.
