THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Experts criticise Union Home Ministry for insisting on more lockdown curbs, say it’s a punishment for controlling spread so far while other states are free now after letting unbridled virus transmission
The Union home ministry’s directive to some states including Kerala to adhere to strict Covid containment measures from Wednesday to August 31 has effectively nailed any attempt to ease lockdown restrictions during Onam. The directions to impose strict measures to reduce the test positivity rate came when Thiruvonam is just three weeks away.Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla has asked states with reproduction numbers (also known as ‘R naught’, a term that estimates how fast the infection is spreading) of more than one to take up strictest possible measures in districts with high TPR.
At present, Kerala is the only one among the worst-hit states with an R value above one. The state reported the highest new cases in two months on Tuesday and it was followed by an equally high 22,056 cases on Wednesday. The TPR also stood at 12.35% and 11.2% on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The Centre has issued directives to prevent crowding and ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour in view of the festival season. These include a five-fold strategy of testing, tracking, treating, vaccinating and adhering to Covid-appropriate behaviour.
However, the directions are aimed largely at enforcing lockdown measures because there are issues with most of the strategies suggested, said a health expert. Except for the treatment part, there were major concerns regarding testing, tracking, vaccinating and enforcing protocol.The state government on Tuesday decided to continue the lockdown restrictions based on TPR despite its effectiveness in reducing the rate. Already, there are 271 local bodies under triple lockdown, an increase from 16 on June 16. However, there have been expectations that the government would consider livelihood issues to open up more sectors during the festival season as happened before Bakrid.
Health experts have come out against the Central government’s directives, saying more lockdown measures would not resolve the issue. “The latest serosurvey shows that the lockdown implemented in Kerala was successful in containing infection. But there is no advantage in extending the lockdown. Better compliance has come as a punishment to us while others who had no control over the spread are now living freely. The Centre should help us in getting more vaccine doses as an incentive for better managing the pandemic,” said Dr Anish T S, a member of the Covid management committee and an assistant professor at the Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram
The ‘R’ Value
R naught (R0): Reproduction number helps predict the expected number of cases from exposure to a single case
R value of Kerala: 1.14 (week on week )
R value of Kerala to reach 1.2-1.25 by end of this week
It means Kerala will top in active cases for next couple of weeks
Kerala is the only large state with an R value above 1
Kerala tops the most number of active cases (1,49,534), followed by Maharashtra