Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 21 (IANS): Even as the number of Covid cases is rising, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is under fire from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), here on Tuesday, used statistics to say everything was under control and there was no need of panic.

During the day, 720 new cases were reported, taking the Covid tally to 13,994. It included 528 local infectees. There are 8,056 active cases in the state.

"In the early days, critics said there were low reporting of cases. Now when the cases are rising, they are saying there's a huge spike. We can't do anything about those who feign ignorance," said Vijayan.

He said many failed to understand that population density in Kerala was double the national average and the state had the largest percentage of senior citizens. "Despite all that, the fatality rate in Kerala was 0.33 per cent, against 4.4 per cent in Gujarat, 3.8 per cent in Maharashtra and 2.1 per cent in Karnataka," said Vijayan.

He also used Monday's data to support his case. On Monday, there were 36,906 cases and 596 deaths across the country, 4,985 cases and 70 deaths in Tamil Nadu, and 3,648 cases and 72 fatalities in Karnataka.

He accepted being concerned about rise in cases and added, by July 23, 742 Covid first line treatment centres with 69,215 beds would be ready. By July 19, 187 such centres with 20,404 beds had started functioning, he added.