The Kerala chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) is urging the state government to strictly adhere to COVID-19 guidelines as the number of cases in the state remains high. In a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, the IMA urged the government not to reopen schools in the on-going academic year.
"When students are infected, there is 25% possibility of transmission to the elderly people in their homes and those who have comorbidities. The students may become carriers of the infection. Reopening schools in the current academic year will only result in an increase in the transmission of the disease. The schools should hence be shut down after conducting examinations following COVID-19 protocol," the letter reads.
On Monday, 187 students and 75 staff of two schools in Ponnani of Malappuram district tested positive for the coronavirus.
The IMA also urged the strengthening of quarantine measures and to increase the quarantine period to 14 days. The quarantine period had been reduced from 14 to seven days. The IMA also asked to conduct a study to see if the presence of the mutated virus was causing the increase in transmission.
The state has been witnessing a high number of COVID-10 cases, with a high test positivity rate.
The IMA also asked for the vaccination drive for health workers to be sped up.
"As per the data of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the seroprevalence (the number of persons in a population who test positive for a specific disease based on serology specimens) of Kerala is 11.6%. This indicates urgent action for the vaccine to reach everyone. The vaccination drive is happening at a very slow pace now. More vaccination centres should be opened and should also include the details of all doctors in the registry prepared by the government,” the letter reads.
As per the data provided by the state Health Department, 3,12,237 health workers received vaccines in the state as of Monday.
“The situation in the state is such that the COVID-19 pandemic is rampant and urgent intervention is needed to contain the transmission of the virus. Prevention of the transmission is possible only if those who have contracted the disease are isolated," the letter reads. The letter also stated that the IMA had, since the beginning of the pandemic, been urging an increase in the number of tests, but action was only taken by the government last week.
"The target of having one lakh tests in a day has not been achieved yet. The number of daily tests include those done prior to surgeries. To trace COVID-19 patients, random surveillance testing and on high-risk persons should be done. The test should be RT-PCR as antigen tests have only 50% accuracy," the letter further reads.