Thiruvananthapuram: Even though the Kerala government has been stressing on increasing the number of COVID-19 tests, data proves these claims wrong.
Only 2,108 tests were done in Kerala in the last five days, with a daily average of just 420 tests. Though Kerala was in the forefront of conducting tests in the first phase, the state is now lagging behind Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Delhi, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier rejected reports that the testing was delayed due to the scarcity of kits. However, he confirmed this the other day.
He also said that the kits were available now and that more tests would be conducted. Even then other states are conducting over 5,000 tests daily, while Kerala figures are below 500.
About 4,000 tests can be done daily at the 16 laboratories in Kerala. Fourteen of these are government labs, while two are in the private sector.
The government is not giving a clear answer as to why more tests are still not done.
Even if the number of tests done per a million people are compared - Kerala with just 593 tests is way behind Delhi (1567), Tamil Nadu (857), Rajasthan (848), Maharashtra (714), and Gujarat (652).
