The government is trying to stem the intense transmission of COVID-19 along the coastal belt, which is fast making its way inland, by formulating special action plans for the coastal zone, while intensifying surveillance and testing in major disease clusters that have developed in many parts of the State.
On Monday, the cumulative case burden of COVID-19 in the State crossed the 8,000-mark, with the reporting of 449 fresh cases.
8,322 cases in State
The total number of cases reported so far in the State now stands at 8,322, while the total recoveries have been 4,257.
Cases due to local transmission again exceeded the number of imported cases of infection. Of the 449 new cases, only 204 were imported cases of infection while the rest were all reported from the community. In 18 of these cases, the source of infection remains unknown.
Local transmission
The local transmission cases included a huge cluster of 77 cases from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police camp at Alappuzha, five health-care workers, 10 Defence Security Corps jawans, four personnel of Fire and Rescue Services, one Border Security Force jawan, and three employees of Kerala Solvent extraction Ltd.
The number of active cases in the State now is 4,028. With two more deaths reported from Kollam and Kannur, the death toll in the State now is 33.
51 clusters in State
However, the evolving picture of the epidemic indicates a situation wherein the local transmission of COVID-19 could get out of hand.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Monday that local transmission of COVID-19 had resulted in 51 cluster formations, including two large community clusters.
As more cases spring up in the community, the possibilities of patients reporting late in hospitals and the heightened risk of risk of infection amongst the elderly and those with co-morbidities could push up the State’s mortality rate significantly in the coming days.
Mr. Vijayan, however, sought to reiterate that the containment model adopted by Kerala so far had been effective and had won international accolades. In the same breath he also acknowledged that the increase in case burden and the potential of many vulnerable people requiring ICU and ventilator support could overwhelm the health system.
The number of samples tested in the State in the past 24 hours was 12,230. The number of hotspots now was 223.
Reverse quarantine
Mr. Vijayan said intense efforts were on across the State to create awareness on the importance of reverse quarantine and that more first-line treatment centres and quarantine facilities were being readied.
He also challenged the argument which has been raised from many quarters about the insufficiency of testing in the State by quoting figures on the State’s test positivity rate (2.27, which he claimed was the best in the world ) and the tests pre million vs case per million figures. Those who criticise the State’s strategy are doing it without any scientific backing, he said.
