kochi almost 83 deaths and 38 of new covid19 cases in india this month were reported from kerala till december 23 with the number of covid cases surging in several countries during the vacation season india has also stepped up its preparations to deal with the pandemicwhile the rest of india saw a decline in cases and deaths keralas decline has been slow however in the last few months covid patients turning critical and needing hospitalisation has reduced in the state but the elderly and those with comorbidities are still vulnerable despite vaccination in october 2022 india reported a total of 64357 covid cases and of these 24 were from kerala of the total 366 covid deaths in the country 60 were in kerala in november there was a drastic drop in the total number of new covid cases to 19204 and of these 22 was from kerala of the 176 deaths in the month 63 were in the state this month till december 23 total cases in the country further dropped to 4467 and deaths to 62 of these 38 of cases and 83 of deaths are from keralathis trend has been seen in the last few months but when we look at the total number of covid cases and deaths from 2020 then kerala has so far reported 15 of the total cases and 16 of the total deaths in the country which is not really alarming said state health departments nc krishna prasad who has been compiling data on deaths published by various state health departments and ministry of health and family welfarenow there is no increase in critical patients and we were planning to close our covid units but since the government has warned we have taken a waitandwatch approach said dr mi sahadulla chairman and md of kims healthcare group and president of the association of healthcare providers india kerala chapterhospitals are not taking any chances and are reintroducing covid protocols major hospitals are again strengthening their covid facilities icu and wards once again the thrust is on mark usage handwashing and crowd control inside the hospital said dr jayakrishnan av chairman of indian medical associations ima committee on covid vaccines and vaccinationin another 15 to 20 days we will know the severity of the spread of the infection if any however people again need to wear masks especially indoors and the vulnerable and senior citizens should take the booster dose also we have the highest incidence of noncommunicable diseases in india and its important that people here work on controlling their blood pressure and glucose levels as soon as possible said diabetologist dr jothydev kesavadev