Thiruvananthapuram: A day after the Central government alerted about the presence of a dangerous variant of dengue fever, DENV-2, in 11 States, Kerala Health Minister Veena George allayed fears over it by stating that it was earlier reported here in 2017.
As per the Central alert the presence of DENV-2 have been confirmed in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Odisha.
The dengue variants, 1, 2, 3, and 4, have been reported from all States, including Kerala, Veena said. She, however, added that the severity of infection was more in those affected by Dengue-2.
The Union Health Ministry has alerted the 12 States to take extreme caution to avoid the spread of the disease. This variant can cause serious health issues to the patients compared to other types of Dengue disease.
Vaccination drive against COVID-19
Meanwhile, almost 90% (89.84%) of the eligible population has been administered the first dose of vaccine against COVID-19 in Kerala, Veena said. As many as 2,39,95,651 people have been partially vaccinated, while 99,75, 323 people (37.35%) were administered the second dose as well.
Kerala has so far distributed 3,39,28,182 doses of the vaccine against the pandemic disease.
Noting the high mortality rate among the unvaccinated, the minister said 75% of patients were now asymptomatic.
Further containment measures would be rolled out after receiving the seroprevalence survey result this month-end, Veena said.
