Kerala, on Friday, reported over 22,000 coronavirus cases for the fourth consecutive day. As the cases continue to rise, a Central team also visited the state to aid it in the effective management of the situation.

Researchers, weighing in on the situation, said that due to R-factor growth, the state will remain in the top spot for the next couple of weeks vis-a-vis infections.

The R-factor indicates the speed at which the viral infection is spreading in the country.

Talking about the rise in numbers, state health minister Veena George said that the state’s defensive measures were good.

“The situation in Kerala is absolutely under control. How do you anaylse this? Look at the data on occupancy in hospitals. It is less for hospitals, for ICU beds, and even in demand for oxygen support. It means the severity of the disease is less,” Veena George told NDTV.

“A Central team visited Kerala a couple of weeks ago. They visited many places, they visited hospitals, they went to many districts. They communicated to us that they are satisfied with the measures the government is adopting. They told us that plateau-formation in this phase is quite expected,” she said.

The state health minister also said that several other experts reassured the Kerala administration about this “plateau formation”.

Earlier, Veena had said that the focus right now is on vaccines as it is something that the state is running out of quickly: “There is a severe shortage of vaccines in the state due to non-availability of adequate doses and we have been repeatedly requesting the Union government to provide us enough doses,” she said.

Kerala, she said, has vaccinated 76% of the population above the age of 45 years with the first dose and almost 35% had received both doses.

On July 26, more than 4.5 lakh people were vaccinated in Kerala, a first for the state.