Omicron phase: Kerala's initial success in Covid pandemic control faltering

High testing, rural-urban mobility, disbanded ground force reasons behind high daily caseload

Kerala’s much-acclaimed story of pandemic control seems to have turned weak on some counts in the Omicron phase of Covid-19.

Even as new Covid cases are going down across the country, Kerala continues to report more than 20,000 of them a day.

Experts say tactical errors by the local government, higher rates of testing, and high mobility among rural and urban areas are some of the factors that have contributed to a slow reduction in the case count during the third wave.

The state, with 258,954 active cases, accounts for 32.75 per cent of the country’s as on February 10.