Kerala: Central team arrives, visits hospitals

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The central team led by Dr Ruchi Jain, deputy director of regional centre of the ministry of health and family welfare, has reached the state as part of the decision taken by the Centre to depute experts to worst-hit states.
This is the third visit of Dr Jain to the state since the emergence of the pandemic. Dr Ruchi is accompanied by Dr Vinod Kumar from JIPMER during the present visit.
The expert team visited the general hospital and taluk hospitals in the district. They also had a discussion with district collector Navjot Khosa and had a review on the situation in the district. Sources said that the team will be visiting Kollam and Pathanamthitta on Tuesday. They are also expected to meet health minister Veena George also on Tuesday morning.
The central team is learnt to have told the health authorities to take extra caution on the increasing caseload in the district where more than thousand cases are being reported on a daily basis. The team also directed the state authorities to keep a track on the data of the contacts of Covid-positive persons to prevent further spreading. Contract tracing is the key in preventing the spread and hence like in the first wave, the state has been told to keep a vigil on contact tracing.
The central team had visited the state in February this year and last October too when the caseload was peaking in the state.