Kerala sees Covid-19 surge due to testing delays, violation of norms

Kerala, which received much attention for effectively containing the spread of Covid-19 during the initial stages of the pandemic, is now facing embarrassment due to a spurt in cases across the state.

While the government often blames people for not adhering to social distancing norms, experts maintain that flaws in testing strategy, ineffective enforcement of social distancing norms and insufficient social support systems are the major factors triggering spurt in cases.

Though the state managed to keep the local transmission of Covid-19 below 10% till June end, it started witnessing a steep rise in local transmission thereafter, crossing 72% on Wednesday. The total tally crossed the 50,000-mark, while the active cases remained at around 17,500. Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja also announced that the daily cases would go up to 10,000 to 20,000.

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It was only after receiving strong criticism that the government has increased daily testing from around 5,000 to around 35,000. There still are serious concerns over the delay in getting the test results. At present, testing facilities are available at around 115 labs in the state.

IMA Kerala chapter secretary Dr P Gopikumar pointed out that Dharavi model initiatives like home-to-home testing and isolating the infected were the need of the hour.

Social distancing norms were being rampantly flouted in the state, especially after the lockdown norms were eased. The situation is likely to aggravate further with festival season, said a senior government doctor involved in the Covid-19 fight.

Dr Gopikumar said that since community spread in Kerala is now a reality, mere contact tracing is not enough and the focus should be on enforcing social distancing norms.