According to government data, Kerala has 37% of the country’s active covid cases

New Delhi, India Many believe that the Covid figure in Kerala is a forerunner of the country’s third wave of the virus, which is expected to arrive within the next week. According to government sources, of the 4.03 lakh active cases in the country, 1.5 lakh are from Kerala alone, accounting for more than 37% of the cases. “The surge in cases in Kerala can be seen as the beginning of the third wave,” Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said yesterday.

The Union Health Ministry has dispatched a six-member team to the state, led by National Centre for Disease Control Director S K Singh, to assist with Covid management.

When the second wave of Covid swept through the country in May, Kerala reported an all-time high of more than 43,000 new cases per day.

However, the numbers began to fall quickly and reached a low by the first week of June.

The respite was short — from the third week of June the number of daily fresh cases has been on a consistent rise. Over the last 8 weeks, the state has seen a 13 per cent rise in the daily cases, sources said.

Recently, Kerala reported more than 22,000 new cases a day — more than halfway to the numbers of May.

The number of fatalities is also rising. More than 150 deaths were reported this morning, though the figure is a drop from 227 — reported in the first week of June. Over the last eight weeks, the range of deaths per day has been between 97 and 174.

The weekly positivity rate has been between 10.5 per cent and 14.8 per cent. The figure has not dropped below 10 per cent in the last eight weeks.

The average daily tests however have dropped by 13 per cent over the last eight weeks.

Between June 3 to June 9, the average daily tests were more than 1,11,000. From June 22nd to July 28, the average has dropped to 96,00,500.