The sentinel surveillance studies conducted in Kerala so far have given “good results”, which has convinced the government that community transmission has not happened in the State, Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, has said.
However, given an assessment of the current situation, one cannot say that community transmission will not occur tomorrow, he added, while briefing the media here on Thursday.
The government has decided to test those with influenza-like illnesses (ILI), as per the advisory of ICMR, as COVID-19 symptoms are a lot like that of ILI, he added.
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False propaganda
Mr. Vijayan dismissed as ‘false propaganda”, allegations that Kerala had been hauled up by the Centre for manipulation of COVID-19 testing data to present a more favourable epidemiological picture
Across the country, Kerala has the lowest rate of disease transmission through contact, which is also evident through the statistics of the Union Health Ministry also.
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Kerala also has the lowest case fatality rate of 0.5 % against the national average of 2.89 %. The recovery rate is also quite high in Kerala, Mr. Vijayan said.
He claimed that Kerala has been able to keep local disease transmission at the lowest levels because of the constant vigil exercised by the people.
He said that Kerala has been following all guidelines issued by the ICMR in its efforts to contain COVID-19 and that the State’s efforts had always been appreciated by the Centre. In fact, other States have been told to follow the Kerala Model, he added.