On the 100th day after the first novel coronavirus case was reported on January 30, Kerala has just 16 active COVID-19 cases. This is 3.18 per cent of the confirmed 503 cases.
"Two months after the second wave began in the first week of March, we have hammered the curve flat," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared at his customary sunset briefing in Thruvananthapuram on Friday.
After two back-to-back zero-case days, Friday saw one fresh case, in an Ernakulam native who had returned from Chennai. The Chief Minister said the Ernakulam native was also a kidney patient, a hint that the virus could be hard on the person. The man was under treatment in a private hospital in Aluva.
However, a fresh case was more than offset by 10 recoveries, all of them in Kannur. Kerala had been recovering at a rate of nearly 12 persons per day this month that the Chief Minister called this "the highest recovery rate in the world".
Now, Kannur has only five active cases, the highest in Kerala. Here are the other districts with COVID-19 patients: Wayanad (4), Kollam (3), Idukki, Ernakulam, Palakkad and Kasaragod (one each). Seven districts - Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode - remain COVID-free. The previous day, the list had Ernakulam, too.
The fear of community transmission is also receding, as 2939 of the 3380 samples taken from high-risk groups like healthcare workers, and persons with high social exposure like policemen and politicians have turned negative. Only 441 samples are pending. The previous day, results of over 800 samples were pending.
Along with returnees, caution also returns
Despite these encouraging numbers, Kerala has stepped up surveillance. On Friday, 20,157 are under observation in Kerala, in homes and hospitals. On May 6, the number had dropped to 14,670. Given the calibrated influx of Malayalis from foreign countries and other states, extra caution was called for.
"We have greatly succeeded in reining in the virus. But this does not mean we can be complacent," the Chief Minister said, and given the context of Malayalis returning from high-risk areas, he added: "The coming days are very crucial."
The chances of the virus getting imported from other states are potentially high. Official figures show that 37,801 (41.71 per cent) of the 86,679 Malayalis in other states who had applied for travel passes are coming from 'red zone' districts.
Already, 45,814 passes have been distributed and among these, 19,476 per are coming from 'red zones'. And of the 16,385 that have come till now, 8912 are from 'red zone' districts.
Communication gap, or a minor glitch in following protocols, has allowed many from 'red zones' to go directly to their homes. "We are now identifying people who had returned from 'red zones' and shifting them to institutional quarantine," the Chief Minister said.
Those coming from 'red zones' will have to undergo compulsory 14-day quarantine in government facilities. However, pregnant women, adults above 75 years of age and children below 10 years can undergo their compulsory quarantine at home.
Influx from foreign lands
Foreign returnees pose less of a risk. Five passengers who had arrived from Abu Dhabi on May 7 have been isolated in Kalamassery Medical College, though no one expects their samples to turn positive.
Others have either been shifted to institutional quarantine or have been asked to home-quarantine themselves. on May 7, 358 Malayalis, including 49 pregnant women and 20 children below the age of 10, had returned from abroad in two Air India Express flights that had touched down in Nedumbassery and Kozhikode.
An aircraft will land in Kannur's Karipur Internatonal Airport on Friday with 140 passengers, 84 of them pregnant women and five people requiring urgent medical attention. On May 10, an aircraft from Doha will land in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Chief Minister said that the returned should observe strict social distancing norms. "The house visits a foreign returnee is inclined to make should be avoided," Pinarayi sad.
Pass distribution not halted
The Chief Minister clarified that the government had not halted the distribution of travel passes to Malayalis wanting to return from other states. "It is just that there is a limit to the number of people who can be allowed to enter the state in a day," Pinarayi said.
He also made it clear that a person coming from a 'red zone' would not be denied entry. "Only those who come without registering will be disallowed," the Chief Minister said. He said a person seeking re-entry should get travel pass from both sides, from the starting district in another state and from the destination district in Kerala.
There are people who come armed only with the travel pass from the starting district. "Such people, too, will not be allowed," he said.
He attributed the long queues at check-posts to the untimely arrival of returnees from other states. "People should reach the check-posts at the time slotted in the travel pass," the Chief Minister said.
COVID scare in Attappady
The death of a 23-year-old tribal youth at Sholayoor in Palakkad district on Friday did stoke a major scare in Attappady. Because he had sneaked into Tamil Nadu recently and had respiratory distress, it was feared he had COVID-19.
The scare was multiplied when it was revealed that no one was aware that he was under quarantine when he visited first the Kottathara Tribal Speciality Hospital and then, when his condition turned worse, EMS Hospital in Perinthalmanna. Also, he was taken to the Perinthalmanna hospital in a bus that had at least five pregnant women.
It is now unofficially known that the youth had tested negative for Sars-CoV-2. His mother, too. Health officials now say the youth could have died of leptospirosis or jaundice. Since the results have come late, the Chief Minister was not able to officially declare it on Friday.
