Phase III crucial with spurt in cases

Thiruvananthapuram: As the state has started witnessing the onset of the third phase of Covid-19, experts believe it is likely to be severe. Health minister K K Shailaja expects the third phase to be more crucial compared to the previous two. “This is the third phase and we believe it would be more severe. The influx of people from other states has increased and hence it has become a daunting task to screen and monitor every individual,’’ said Shailaja.
As per the trend of Covid-19 cases reported the world over, a sporadic increase is likely in the state in June and July. “The present reporting of cases denotes this trend as people are coming from the highly infected regions of the country. Hence we will have to increase the number of testing,” said Dr A Althaf, associate professor of community medicine, medical college hospital, Manjeri.
More and more cases are being reported from the border districts of Kasaragod, Idukki, Wayanad and Palakkad. In Wayanad and Palakkad the sources of infections are still not known in a few cases. In Idukki, a bakery owner was tested positive without any direct contact.
“Such cases are going to increase if we are not ready to test samples at the primary level,” said Dr Arun N M, an internal medicine expert. “At present Kerala stands much below the national average in testing the samples. Kerala needs to increase its testing hugely as more and more probable cases come from outside,” he added.
Experts point out that people coming from abroad will be much safer since they are put in institutional quarantine. But this is not the case with the people who are coming from other states. Dr Arun draws attention to ICMR directive on testing those with influenza-like illnesses. “It is not known whether such testings have started in Kerala. Even people coming with acute respiratory infections at the primary health centres need to be tested. We can reduce the cases only by these steps,” said Dr Arun.
In the first two phases, Kerala witnessed 499 positive case after 2.25 lakh people reached the state from abroad. Of this 70% of the cases were from the people who came from abroad and 30% were their contacts.
However, the experts are of the view that there is no need for extending the lockdown as it has adversely affected the economy. “There is no point in locking down the people to prevent the spread. Only seal the areas or regions if there is a community spread. The health literacy is high such that the people themselves have become the health workers and they will prevent the spreading,” said Dr A Althaf.