People with co-morbidities should subject themselves to repeated COVID-19 tests at intervals, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said. The Health Department would soon launch a campaign to create awareness of this fact amongst the public, he added.
People who recovered from COVID-19 required special attention and care as persisting symptoms could be dangerous. The Health Department had rolled out a care plan for providing post-COVID care to people, he said. The department intended to expand the telemedicine services so that post-COVID care could be extended to all.
While the case graph had not been climbing higher and had shown signs of plateauing, the COVID-19 situation in the State was still a matter of grave concern.
The case per million figure in the State, at 11,280, was much higher than the current national average of 5,790. Hence all disease containment activities and vigil against disease transmission would have to be maintained as such, Mr. Vijayan said. Interventions and Break-the-Chain campaigns have been strengthened in all districts and the sectoral magistrates and the police together were doing a good job, he said.
167 spots identified
District Collectors had been asked to increase testing by setting up more testing kiosks in public places. Some 167 spots had been identified, of which 57 spots already had functional kiosks. Steps hadbeen taken to empanel private hospitals with ICU beds and to ensure that 10% of the beds in private hospitals are set aside for COVID-19 care.
