In a first, Kerala CM confirms community transmission of Covid-19

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday confirmed that community transmission of Covid-19 has occurred in two coastal hamlets of capital Thiruvananthapuram and asked people to be extra vigilant.

“The situation in Thiruvananthapuram is really serious. In two areas, Poonthura and Pulluvila, community transmission has happened” said the CM.

He said in Poonthura when 50 people were tested randomly, 26 tested positive, while in Pulluvila, 28 out of the 57 tested were found to be positive.

The CM’s Kerala admission came on a day when the state reported another highest single-day spike of 791 new cases, taking the total infections so far since January 30 to 11,066. Of the infected, 6, 029 are active cases while 4,971 have recovered. The state has reported 40 deaths so far.

Community transmission means that the disease is in its third stage and the source of its origin is not known. It is now present in the community and can infect people with no history - either of travel to or contact with infected people and areas. At this point, everyone is susceptible to catching it.

Experts also say that in random testing, if more than half of the people test positive, then it can be called a community transmission.

Kerala increased testing for the coronavirus disease only recently, but even now its rate is one of the lowest in the country. Till date, it has done less than four lakh tests while neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have reported triple the number.

The state has tested 16,642 samples in the last 24 hours, said the CM on Friday.

The chief minister also announced that triple lockdown will be imposed in coastal hamlets from Saturday to check further spread of coronavirus infection.

“The coastal belt is facing a dire situation with the disease spreading very fast. We need to mobilise all our resources to deal with the situation,” he said.

Of the new cases reported on Friday, 532 were through local transmission, the CM said during his evening briefing.

“The number of locally-transmitted cases is increasing by the day because of negligence on the part of people. Going by the trend, one assessment is that disease control can only be achieved by the end of this year,” he said.

As many as 1.78 lakh people are under observation, while 6,124 are in various hospitals, including 1,152 admitted on Friday.

There are 285 hotspots in the state as of now.

(with inputs from PTI)