The worsening Covid-19 scenario in Kerala seemed to have forced back the state from its 'fleetingly brief' comfort zone of a single-digit test positivity ratio to double digits with 6,194 cases being reported on Saturday after 61,957 samples were tested in the previous 24 hours.

Addition of 17 new deaths in the past few days to the official list of Covid-19 fatalities took the cumulative toll till date to 4,767 deaths, a spokesman for the State Health Department said. The active case pool has grown rapidly back 39,778 patients (from a low of 24,000 reported earlier in March).

Meanwhile, sources said on condition of anonymity that the 'Crushing the Curve' campaign scheduled to start on Sunday/Monday envisaging a mass vaccination drive in the State could likely derail even before it gets on to the track due to what they described as the 'potential spectre of vaccine shortage.'

All three regional vaccine stores in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode are running short of vaccines, the sources said. For instance, the district of Thiruvananthapuram has less than 40,000. The state expects to receive a little more than 60,000 vaccines which is too few to run the campaign in full throttle.

The campaign seeks to involve the local bodies to accelerate the pace of vaccination significantly so as to cover the maximum number in the age group of 45+. But the best plans laid out for the exercise run the risk of getting unravelled too soon unless adequate numbers of vaccine are made available.

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