With COVID-19 disease transmission reaching a critical stage in the State and the disease spreading in the community fast and wild through super spreader events, it is extremely important that reverse quarantine is strengthened to protect the elderly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
The elderly should be kept safe in houses and people should avoid visiting them till the State regained control over the epidemic situation, he said. With 85% or more of the diseased having been asymptomatic, one would never know if healthy people were carrying an infection home.
Mr. Vijayan said the living condition in the coastal area, wherein several people lived together in a single house, was not safe for the elderly amongst them. Understandably, it was difficult to implement reverse quarantine here and to keep the elderly separate and safe from others in the same house.
However, the situation involving COVID-19 in the entire coastal area was bad enough that the community would have to be convinced to find some alternative options, such as finding a separate dwelling for the elderly, who are extremely vulnerable to the disease.
While the State had successfully contained disease transmission in the second stage of the pandemic, in the third stage, laxity in maintaining safety precautions had resulted in increased local transmission The epidemic was on a fast course across the State now.
In the last three days alone, Thiruvananthapuram had reported 213 positive cases, 190 of which were a result of local transmission. The government has strengthened sentinel surveillance and testing using the viral antigen detection kit in the community to pick up more cases. Geographic mapping of cases and extensive contact tracing exercises were on.
At Poonthura, were a super spreader event had occurred, separate cluster management strategy was being implemented to contain disease transmission.
Mr. Vijayan said that with a lot of people from neighbouring Tamil Nadu coming into Kerala for medical requirements, the government had decided to open separate OP counters in hospitals for patients from across the border.
