A high-level team will be deployed to Kerala to review the state government’s COVID-19 related interventions and to support the state health authorities, the Centre said on Wednesday. The team is expected to reach the state on Friday.
Dr S.K. Singh, director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), will lead the team.
This deployment is an ongoing effort by the central government to strengthen COVID-19 management in various states and union territories. The teams are expected to interact with state authorities and come to an understanding of the unique challenges faced in a particular state and offer help.
The decision comes in the wake of a surge COVID-19 cases in the state, where it has been consistently reporting an average of 5,000 cases for the past few days with 6,394 cases being reported in just the last 24 hours, also crossing a test-positivity rate of 10 percent (the number of positive cases per test).
There is also a presence of the mutant coronavirus strain in the state that was first discovered in the UK in December. A total of 43 UK returnees have tested positive for the coronavirus, out of which the mutant strain was confirmed in six cases.
A total of 35,038 new cases have been recorded in the state bumping the active cases in the state up to 65,057.
However, Kerala still has a very low death rate from COVID-19 when compared to other states.