THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state Health department is giving shape to a plan to conduct a clinical case study on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), an acute respiratory disease which has resulted in the death of 1,873 people globally so far. The study will be conducted on the three persons who tested positive for COVID-19 in the state. According to the department, the study is significant as all the positive cases reported in the country are from Kerala.
“As of now, the outbreak is under control. But, from the epidemiological perspective, chances are high that another outbreak might happen. It might be in Kerala or metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai or Calcutta. So it was decided to launch a clinical case study on the present outbreak,” said a Health department officer.
The positive cases, reported from Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kasaragod, are medical students who had returned to the state from Wuhan in China, which is the epicentre of COVID-19 outbreak. With the repeated tests turning negative, two patients, admitted at Alappuzha and Kasaragod, were discharged. In the case of one admitted at Thrissur, repeat sample results are awaited.
“It will be too early to comment on the study as only an outline has been prepared. A clinical case study is needed. One of the intriguing questions that will get answered through the study is how the three contracted COVID-19. Whether a district-level or state-level investigation is needed needs to be decided,” said additional director of health services Dr V Meenakshy.
Dr Amar Fettle, state nodal officer, public health emergency of international concern, said that the study will either fall in the ambit of the Community Medicine department or Epidemiology department.
However, it is said that as all the three positive cases are clinical cases, the proposed study will be carried out by clinicians rather than epidemiologists or staff of the Community Medicine department.
According to a source, the Health department had earlier blocked the advances of national institutes like the Indian Council of Medical Research to launch a study in the state regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. For the same, it is said, a circular was issued which makes it mandatory for institutes to seek the permission of a panel chaired by principal secretary of health Rajan Khobragade before conducting studies on the COVID-19 outbreak.