Alarmed at the swift pace of disease transmission in the second wave of COVID-19 in the State, the Health Department is moving quickly to increase the surge capacity in all its secondary and tertiary care hospitals, re-mobilise human resources, and augment ICU/ventilator facilities in medical colleges so that people with serious disease can be managed properly.
Health Minister K.K. Shylaja, who convened a meeting of senior health officials on Friday, said the State was launching a two-pronged strategy to crush the curve by intensifying containment and preventive measures to reduce the pace of disease transmission on one hand, while aggressively increasing the pace of vaccination on the other.
The department estimates that as a significant proportion of the State’s COVID-19 mortality has been in the 45 plus age group, increasing the pace of vaccination is the sure-shot way of keeping the case fatality down. Mass vaccination campaigns are being planned in the next three weeks and the department appealed to the public to come forward to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Ms.Shylaja said the Centre had been requested to make more vaccine supplies available to the State.
She added that COVID first-line treatment centres would be readied once again as required, while the State would continue the policy of home care for patients who did not have serious disease. The State was looking at a situation wherein many hospitals may have to be converted back to COVID hospitals as was done during the first wave of COVID.
The focus has also shifted to the ‘back to basics’ campaign, wherein the compliance of the public with essential pandemic protocols such as masking, physical distancing, and hand hygiene will be the key to reducing the pace of disease transmission.
Lack of willingness among people to undergo testing, fearing subsequent quarantine and disruption to normal life, is emerging as a major issue across the State. This has also led to increased family clusters.
People with any symptomatic illness – fever or influenza – should not delay testing themselves for COVID, so that further disease transmission can be prevented and their family members protected, officials said.
Meanwhile, the condition of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was admitted to Kozhikode Medical College Hospital on Thursday after testing positive for COVID-19, remains stable and satisfactory, according to a medical bulletin.
Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, hospitalised in the capital after testing positive for the infection, is also doing well, reports said.
