Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made it clear that the steady decline in new COVID-19 positive cases should not be taken as a licence to violate the current restrictions on free movement of people or public gatherings.

Even though there has been no evidence of community transmission yet, the disease might flare up once the safeguards are relaxed. That is not a danger that the State can afford to have, after having done disease containment extremely well so far, he said, briefing the media here on Monday.

Only three positive cases were reported in the State on Monday while the number of patients who tested negative following treatment was 19.

Two of the new cases were from Kannur and contacts of imported cases. The other case was that of a person who had returned home to Palakkad from abroad. Of the 378 positive COVID-19 cases reported so far in the State, 178 were at present undergoing treatment.

The number of people under surveillance further dwindled to 1,12,183, of which 715 were in isolation wards in hospitals and the rest in home quarantine.

Mr. Vijayan said testing had improved much in the State and that up to 1,000 samples were being sent for testing daily now. However, there were still issues of shortage in supply of test kits provided by the Centre.

Warning against dengue

Mr. Vijayan said the State had to take immediate and extreme measures to ensure that annual outbreaks of dengue and leptospirosis in Kerala did not get out of hand, while the State health machinery was involved in fighting COVID-19.

He said it was a matter of concern that a spike in both dengue and leptospirosis cases had been reported at the Medical College Hospital, Kottayam. Garbage disposal and activities such as source reduction and vector control drives should be intensified, he said.

The Chief Minister said the private medical sector was an integral part of the State’s health sector and that the government wanted to go hand-in-hand with private hospitals in fighting COVID-19. Mr. Vijayan said with many government hospitals engaged in COVID-19 care, private hospitals should ensure that those who needed medical treatment for other diseases were not left in the lurch.