How Is Kerala Keeping A Lid On Coronavirus? What Other States Should Learn From It

With only one new positive case, Kerala is working relentlessly to keep the curve low in the state by taking every measure seriously.

Medical staff collect samples from people at newly set upped Walk-In Sample Kiosk (WISK) to test for the COVID 19 coronavirus at Ernakulam Medical College in Kerala on April 6, 2020. (Photo by Arun CHANDRABOSE / AFP)

New Delhi: With only one new positive case in last 24 hours, Kerala is working relentlessly to keep the curve low in the state by taking every measure seriously. Kerala was the first state to report a Coronavirus case, from a salesman who returned home from Dubai with flu-like symptoms. So far there have been a total of 387 confirmed cases of COVID in Kerala and 167 patients are currently under treatment in various hospitals across the State. Of this 264 were people, who had come to Kerala from outside the State and from abroad, eight were foreign nationals and 114 were cases of local transmission. The number of people under surveillance in the State has come down to 97,464. Of these, 96,942 are isolated at their homes and 522 are in the isolation wards in hospitals. 86 persons were hospitalised today. So far, 16,472 samples from people with symptoms have been sent for testing and 16,002 samples have tested negative with no infection. How is Kerala putting up the big fight? One of the most important tools they use is contact tracing, if anybody tested positive, they will contact all of the people the person has come in touch with and quarantine them. If anyone had flown in from abroad “route mapping” was one of their first moves. Setting up COVID-19 care centres in all districts to accommodate outsiders who were stuck and had been advised to isolate. Healthcare workers would provide support to the elderly living alone and people with special needs making sure that if they were under any medication, it was provided to them in a timely manner. What is key that even the grassroots level of administration there was aware and prepared, and this made it easier for people to reach villages. Local government, community-driven village councils, vigilant municipalities and functioning government hospitals made it possible to keep the virus under check. Kerala is not going to relax the isolation and lockdown just yet because a full screening hasn’t been done yet as the testing kits have been delayed. Although the recoveries are high, testing will become even more difficult as the seasonal monsoon sees a rise in a number of diseases like dengue and influenza, which have similar symptoms to COVID-19. But Kerala is bracing itself for it and a possible second wave of Coronavirus.