He also said the state needed to be careful to avoidanother wave of the deadly virus but asserted it was ready tofight it in such an event.
The state reported a solitary positive case, taking thetotal to 503 while ten more people recovered on Friday,further bringing down the active cases to 16, he toldreporters here. "Now, two months later (after second wave of infectionshit the state in March), the curve has been flattened. As wehave completed 100 days since the country's first COVID casewas detected from Kerala, we havea record of better recoveryrate in the whole world," Vijayan said.
The fresh case was a person with kidney ailment who cameto Ernakulam from Chennai, the chief minister said.
"All the ten recoveries are from Kannur. The total tallyof the cases in the state is 503, while 20,157 are underobservation, including 347 in various hospitals," he said. The country's first COVID-19case was reported on January30 when a medical student from Wuhan, the epicentre of thevirus, tested positive in Thrissur, he said. The second wave of the virus had hit the state duringMarch when a three-member family returned from Italy. With the start of repatriation of the stranded NonResident Keralites (NRKs), mainly from Gulf nations, "there isneed to ensure that athird wave does not happen in the stateand all efforts are being taken to ensure this," he said.
"We need to be careful to avoid a third wave. In casethere is one, we are ready to fight it," Vijayan said. Though the positive cases have reduced, there cannot beany room for any complacency, he added.
Kerala has been earning accolades from many quarters forthe manner in which it dealt with the pandemic and restrictingdeaths due to the virus to just three so far while containingits spread.
It has made elaborate arrangements to screen thereturning expatriates and put them under quarantine. UDVS VS