Kerala reported 16 more COVID-19 cases on Friday, 13 of which were imported and three that of local transmission.
Of the 16 new cases, seven were people who had returned from abroad and six were Keralites from other States. Three persons had contracted the disease through contact with known/unknown sources of infection.
Five in Wayanad
Five cases are in Wayanad, four in Malappuram, two each in Alappuzha and Kozhikode, and one each is in Kasaragod, Kollam, and Palakkad. The State has a total of 576 cases so far. However, only 80 are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals, the maximum number being in Wayanad, which has 19 patients.
Of the 576 cases, 311 are imported cases of infection brought in by people who had returned from abroad and another 70 are Non-Resident Keralites from other States. Eight cases were that of foreigners. Local transmission resulted in 187 cases in various districts.
The State has put 48,825 people under surveillance, of whom, 538 have been isolated in hospitals while the rest are in home quarantine.
As it becomes more evident that Kerala as a society will have to learn to live with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, mindful of all safety precautions and the essential need for social distancing, it does not make any sense to discriminate against anyone coming into the State from outside, for fear that it will alter the disease transmission dynamics within the State, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in his daily briefing.
The public should understand the reality that the engagement with COVID-19 is going to be a prolonged affair. Rather than live in constant fear, society should wholeheartedly go along with universal safety precautions and the new normals such as wearing masks in public places and maintaining social distancing, so that none is put at risk.
The government will, hence, never take a stance that non-resident Keralites are not welcome to the State for fear that the COVID-19 situation here will worsen, Mr. Vijayan said.
Primacy for quarantine
However, those returning home should also cooperate with the authorities and maintain home quarantine strictly so that the disease transmission within the State does not spin out of control, he said.
In fact, it was the stringent manner in which the State implemented home quarantine, with the help of local self-government bodies, that ensured that disease transmission levels were kept low in the State, Mr. Vijayan said.
