Community spread of Covid-19 feared in Kerala as 25 cases can't be traced to source
Thiruvananthapuram/IBNS: Even as Kerala boasts of flattening the COVID-19 curve and relaxed lockdown in most of its parts while other states are treading the path to normalcy with caution, concerns are being raised of community spread of the deadly contagion with people being infected from unknown sources in the state, said media reports.
There has been a spike in coronavirus cases in Kerala amid reports that the Kerala government is unable to trace the source of infection for 25 coronavirus patients. Among them is a 4-month-old baby, who died recently in Kozhikode Medical College, a 71-year-old patient and a native of Puducherry who died in Medical College Pariyaram in Kannur, said an India Today report.
A senior government official in the Health Department told Indiatoday.in that so far community spread has not been notified anywhere in the state and a conclusion can be reached only after random sampling tests in Covid-19 hotspots and other areas.
Kerala Health Minister KK Shailja has denied community spread of Covid-19 in the state, adding that there is no basis of such fears.
The state government had relaxed lockdown in Kottayam and Idukki districts after all the patients in these districts recovered. Kollam, Kottayam, Idukki and Kozhikode reported more cases in the last five days, and the government had to declare 11 villages across these districts hotspots.
The India Today report said the state the Health Department has informed that among the 11 cases reported, including a government doctor in Idukki and two nurses in Kottayam, on Apr 26, seven were infected locally and so far their source of infection could not be traced.
With doctors and nurses being infected, a senior doctor in the Health Department has said the transmission could have taken place due to inadequate protection or poor quality of protective gear used by them or the community spread has already started in Kerala, the report added.
The senior government officials are of the view that the breakout has entered the third phase in the state and more surveillance and social distancing are required to prevent more people from being infected, reported India Today.
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