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Covid-19 update: As expatriates return, Kerala vows to prevent past slip-ups
Eight of Kerala’s fourteen districts are now Covid free.
Kerala readies to welcome the first batch of expatriates from the Middle East, hoping to maintain a clean coronavirus slate after not reporting a single positive case on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said eight out of the state’s 14 districts are now Covid-free with only 30 active patients remaining under treatment at hospitals after the successful recovery of 468 Covid-19 patients. Kerala has seen only four deaths among the 502 positive cases registered in the state since the outbreak.
The CM said the state will have to maintain its present tempo in disease containment even as it welcomes back stranded residents from abroad beginning Thursday, when two flights—one from Abu Dhabi and another from Dubai will land at Kochi and Kozhikkode airports respectively. He said the government has made all the necessary arrangements for their arrival.
“It is another challenge for us. We have to maintain strict vigilance. There is no room for any complacency at this juncture. We will move all returnees to the government quarantine centres on their arrival and will look after them well,” the CM said.
The chief minister’s word of caution is not unfounded since Kerala, which seems to have things under control at the moment, was dealt a setback a couple of months ago when some of the returnees from the gulf countries jumped home quarantine and turned into super-spreaders of the disease. This time the state is taking no chances.
“For the first seven days, they will be kept in government quarantine, after this, RT-PCR tests will be done on them. If found negative; they will be sent home, where they will remain in isolation for another week. There is no confusion over this,” said the CM.
The government has set up ‘Covid Homes’ or quarantine facilities near all four international airports in the state, including vacant flats, houses and houseboats.
Four lakh people have enlisted on the state government’s website requesting repatriation and Kerala expects at least two lakh residents’ return in one month.
Vijayan replied to Union minister of state for external affairs V Muaraleedharan’s allegation that the Kerala CM was spreading “canards” by saying it was not ideal for people holding official positions to not maintain the decorum.
On Tuesday, Muraleedharan had rubbished Vijayan’s claim that the Centre was flying back expatriates from the Middle East without conducting any tests as “totally absurd”.
The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19
Apart from the return of expatriates, the government also needs to deal deftly with the mass movement of migrant workers to prevent a new chain of positive cases. At least eight trains carrying stranded migrant workers have left the state and more are expected in coming days.
Kerala was the first state to report coronavirus case in the country, when a China-returned medical student was diagnosed positive in January.
