Thiruvananthapuram, July 16: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today informed that there are at present ten large community clusters out of a total of 84 clusters in the State. These are places where the outbreak of the Coronavirus is occurring fast. “There is a possibility of spread happening in these places without visible symptoms. Therefore, people from all walks of life should take preventive measures, assuming that there are patients in their community, whether or not they have been diagnosed with the disease.”
The Chief Minister asked the people to make ‘Break the Chain’, a lifestyle habit. Social distancing, washing hands, and wearing a mask should be made a habit. Everyone should be careful not to ostracise Covid patients and their families. They should be given all possible support they need.
“The experience of Thiruvananthapuram teaches us that the spread of the disease can happen through markets, businesses and hospitals. Public gathering of any kind should be avoided and make sure that sanitizers are available for the public. Everyone should make it a priority to prevent the spread of disease in the society”, said the CM
Recognising the seriousness of the Covid spread, the CM also urged the public to take up the third phase of the ‘Break the Chain’ campaign into a massive popular movement and make it a success.
“In the new situation, the number of tests will be increased as much as possible and steps will be taken to get the result faster. The required manpower will be increased. Private labs will be utilised to the maximum and more testing centres will be started on a priority basis.
Covid first-line treatment centres in all the Panchayats
The Chief Minister also announced that work is underway to set up first-line treatment centres in all the panchayats. A centre with at least 100 beds will be started in each panchayat. The additional health workers required for its implementation will also be mobilised, especially those who can be deployed on an emergency basis.
“A decision was made to mobilize all the health workers and expand our Covid preventive measures. We can only move forward with an inclusive system that can deploy not only those associated with government hospitals but also those working in private hospitals and clinics in the health sector, including students. We expect the private hospitals and clinics will cooperate well with this. The LSG bodies will take the initiative for implementing this”, the CM said.
The Chief Minister also added that some people are spreading false and misleading information about Covid and asked the public to be cautious against such propaganda. “We have been able to effectively control the death toll from Covid so far as a result of the tireless efforts and the vigilance of our society. Kerala’s population density is almost double the national average and this makes it vulnerable to the disease spreading fast. If so, the mortality rate will definitely increase. Any carelessness on our part can lead to a disaster.”
The CM also announced that separate quarantine centres would be set up for police personnel in all the 14 districts.
Minister of Health & Social Justice, Smt K K Shailaja; Revenue Minister, Shri E Chandrasekharan, and Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta IAS, were also present for the media briefing.