THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the state dealing with a new wave of coronavirus cases, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that there was negligence on the part of all in fighting COVID-19. According to him, though precautions were taken in the initial phase of transmission, later people lowered their guard against the virus and the result was a spike in active cases. The CM said this during the online launch of 102 family health centres across the state on Monday.
"We'd taken precautions in the past. But later there was a thought that the precautions don't matter. We should admit that the lapses and compromises in safety precautions are to be blamed for this situation," said the CM.
He added that though he didn’t want to blame anyone for the situation, those responsible should have a guilty feeling and repent.
“At first we effectively dealt with the situation. Then some sort of laxness crept in. This led to the worsening of the situation. To summarize, a small degree of compromise and a small degree of inattention is what led us to the current scenario. We all should remember that prevention is better than cure,” added the CM.
During his address, the CM also stressed the need for people's participation in leading a public health campaign to success.
Earlier, the government had come out with the assessment that interdepartmental coordination is lacking in COVID prevention and control programmes. It was also pointed out that the departments concerned didn’t share details with one another.
The laxity in prevention and control programmes is evident as in the first phase of the outbreak in the state, a majority of cases turned out to be returnees. But in the third phase, the state is dealing with a spike in contact transmission cases and an increasing number of cases with an unknown source of infection.
The event was attended by Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, ministers, secretaries and others.