Strict vigilance will be maintained on coronavirus situation: Kerala authorities

A day after the Kerala government decided to withdraw the 'state disaster' status given to the feared epidemic of coronavirus, officials from the health department said that strict vigilance will still continue.

While the government took a sigh of relief when the repeat test of a coronavirus patient, who had earlier tested positive and was undergoing treatment at Alappuzha Medical College, came out as negative, the health officials maintained that the surveillance will continue.

Dr Indu PS, Head of Community Medicine and State Coordinator of Prevention of Epidemics and Infectious Diseases Cell, said, "Though the Kerala government has withdrawn the 'state disaster' status, the vigilance will continue. As of now, about 3,000 people are under surveillance."

The people currently under surveillance include the 72 people who returned from Wuhan in China and their family members. Among all the Wuhan returnees, only two persons' results are still awaited.

Dr Indu also said that caution is being maintained on high-risk contacts of the coronavirus patients.

V Meenakshi, Additional Director, Public Health, said, "The health condition of all the positive patients is satisfactory. Their family members have tested negative."

Meanwhile, Amar Fettle, state nodal officer for corona and H1N1, thanked the people of Kerala, especially those under home isolation, for their cooperation.

Amar said, "We are maintaining a strict surveillance system and it will continue. We have issued advisories to some special sectors like schools and tourism. We had called a meeting in Trivandrum today where managers of the tourism sector were briefed about the advisory."

"Even as the 'state disaster' tag has been withdrawn, we want voluntary cooperation of people to tell us if new people arrive in the state with any coronavirus-like symptoms," he added.

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja on Friday said that the state government had decided to withdraw 'state disaster' status given to n-coronavirus. However, she said that the alert will continue and health guidelines have to be followed.

The state disaster status was declared after 72 persons in Kerala arrived from Wuhan in China of which three tested positive. Of them, 67 have tested negative. The test results show that the close contacts of all the three confirmed patients are negative, Shailaja said.