Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said non-resident Keralites (NoRKs) returning home from abroad would have to be in mandatory quarantine in government-controlled facilities for a minimum of seven days irrespective of their COVID-19 status or age. The government has readied 2.5 lakh beds to accommodate them.
The government would not permit them to go home directly from the airport. Doctors would subject them to a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test after a week. The doctors would hospitalise those who test positive. Those who turn negative could quarantine themselves at home.
The government would use a combination of geolocation logging mobile phone applications and regular visits by police officers, health workers, and local body members to ensure that the returnees remained safely isolated at home. The same procedure would apply to citizens returning home from 10 other States categorised as “intense disease transmission” zones. The same protocol would also apply to those entering Kerala via seaports.
Obligatory testing
The Centre’s decision not to conduct the obligatory medical checks on those bound for home at the very port of their departure has necessitated the radical change in the State’s containment protocol. The Centre plans to fly back citizens irrespective of their COVID-19 condition in the closed environs of airline cabins.
The chance of an entire lot of passengers getting infected is high in the cramped air-conditioned environment. It is a flagrant violation of the universal safety procedure decreed by the World Health Organization.
The Centre’s stance could imperil the entire country and retard the joint struggle against the pandemic.
Mr. Vijayan had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send advance medical teams to the Gulf, the U.S. and the U.K. to screen Indians before they boarded the special flights home.
Mr. Vijayan warned parties against organising receptions for those returning from abroad to maintain social distancing norms.