The Opposition and some experts have questioned the celebrated Kerala model of Covid management at a time daily cases have remained stubbornly high and the second wave has refused to taper off.
A state otherwise lauded for its quality health services, Kerala has been struggling to bring down Covid cases with most states even in the neighbourhood doing better.
On Thursday, Kerala recorded 13,772 new Covid-19 cases — the highest in the country — and 142 deaths, pushing the virus caseload to 30,25,466 and fatalities to 14,250.
More than half the Covid cases in India last week were reported from Kerala and Maharashtra, according to the Centre. While Kerala accounted for 32 per cent of the cases, Maharashtra registered 21 per cent.
The leader of the Opposition in Kerala, V.D. Satheesan of the Congress, is among those who has blamed the revised pattern of Covid management for the surge in new cases.
“Most Covid patients are being asked to stay in home isolation. While it may sound reasonable, especially for mild cases, home isolation is the main cause of the rapid infection rate that is keeping the test positivity rate at more than 10 per cent,” Satheesan told The Telegraph on Friday.
The state health department’s website puts the seven-day average test positivity rate at 10.41 per cent till Thursday.
“Home isolation is conducive to this fast-spreading virus and its variants. So the government should take urgent steps to ramp up facilities for institutional Covid care,” Satheesan said.
“The government should focus on creating more beds at hospitals to treat Covid patients and prevent these super-spreads. At least that would help us be better prepared for the impending third wave,” Satheesan said.
Health minister Veena George said the government was fully apprised of the needs and was gearing up for a possible third wave.
“Although we didn’t face oxygen shortage in the second wave (unlike most other states), we are in the process of setting up 36 new oxygen plants,” she told a media conference on Friday.
George had to hit the ground running when she was appointed two months ago. “We are ramping up all facilities, including paediatric wards and ICUs, to prepare for the third wave,” she said, alluding to the fear that a subsequent surge could affect children.
Indian Medical Association state secretary Dr Gopikumar P. identified insufficient vaccine doses, crowding and home isolation as the key reasons for the rising Covid cases.
“Home isolation has been counter-productive since whole families are contracting the virus. While people now understand the importance of masks, they still need to adapt to behavioural changes to totally avoid crowding,” he said.
“The IMA had suggested to the chief minister to ramp up vaccination even before the second wave. But the overall vaccine shortage in the country affected us too. Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccination on a war footing are the only solutions to reduce the number of positive cases,” Gopikumar said.
