The Kerala government is concerned that people getting infected by COVID-19 while travelling back would increase the caseload in the state.
The Centre has objected to Kerala government’s direction asking expats to have COVID-19 negative certificates when they fly back into the state. The Union government has said these objections are based on “practical difficulties".
These differences have set the Centre and the state on collision course.
On June 23, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the final decision in the matter would be taken following discussions with the Centre over the next few days.
Earlier, the state announced that only expats with a COVID-19 negative certificate would be allowed June 25 onwards.
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According to the state government, the decision would help prevent those not infected by the novel coronavirus so far from getting exposed to it on the aircraft. Patients getting infected while travelling back would increase the caseload in Kerala, the state government fears.
“There is spiralling of cases, including those without a known source of infection. We cannot stand idle. That is why we raised the request for pre-flight COVID-19 test certificates and wrote to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and the ministry of external affairs. However, MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) has informed the state chief secretary today that they contacted several embassies on the matter and it is practically difficult," Vijayan said.
On the other hand, the Centre considers that the demand for a COVID-19 negative certificate is impractical. The MEA conveyed this to Kerala’s Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta and that it had consulted the Indian embassies in various countries on the matter.
According to a report in Mint, Gulf countries, where there are millions of expats from Kerala, have expressed that conducting rapid COVID-19 tests will on that scale is not possible because of practical difficulties.
Kerala has so far reported 3,310 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of these, 1,749 have already recovered. The death toll due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the state is at 21. While the southern state had managed to ‘flatten the curve’, it is concerned about a possible second wave due to expats returning to the state, especially from Gulf countries.
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