At one point, 90 per cent of the COVID-19 patients in Kerala belonged to one district—Kasaragod. On a particular day, all 39 patients were from this northernmost district. Now, the district has reported just once case in the last five consecutive days. The transition of Kasaragod from a hotspot to a non-hotspot is one of timely interventions, crucial political decisions and right actions.
Kasaragod’s tryst with COVID-19, as is the case of every other district in the state, started with NRIs. This Muslim-dominated district sends one of the largest number of Keralites to the Gulf. It will not be an exaggeration to say every household will have one male working in the Gulf. So, when the lockdown was in the anvil, there was a huge influx of migrants back to their homes and this spread the infection much faster.
The state government announced a lockdown and directed the locals to stay at home. But there were gross violations across Kasaragod. This increased the vulnerability of the district further.
Kasaragod was also caught in a political turf war as IUML MLAs from the district attacked the government that it is creating unnecessary fear in the minds of the people here by going for stringent measures. But as fate would have it, the same MLAs, who had created a furore in the assembly, also had to get quarantined as they had come in touch with a COVID-19 positive patient in a public function.
Once the MLAs were also put under quarantine, the people started taking the coronavirus more seriously. The government, on its part, took every violation seriously and several cases were registered.
According to Sajin S., a journalist, the district collector’s declaration that the passports of violators will be compounded also proved crucial. “In a district where every household will have an NRK, such a threat was unthinkable. This also forced the people stay indoors,” he said.
“What worked most crucial for Kasaragod was the government decision to test every NRK for the virus as against the state protocol of testing only those with symptoms. That was a turning point in arresting the spread of the infection,” said Dr S. Santhosh Kumar, superintendent of the newly set up COVID-19 special hospital in the district.
According to Dr Santhosh, most of NRKs were COVID-19 positive but 50 per cent of them did not show any symptoms. “If they were not tested, they would have transmitted the disease to many others as they all were asymptomatic,” he said.
The number of positive cases started showing a downward trend after a few days as tests became more frequent. Most of the primary contacts had been quarantined by then and the secondary cases had started showing symptoms.
By then, Kasaragod, one of the most backward in terms of health and education, had started feeling the shortage of proper infrastructure. Lack of a medical college also became a huge issue.
It was then the state government decided to send a medical team from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College to Kasaragod. The team, within a few days, turned the lab block of the Medical college in Kasaragod which was under construction into a “Special COVID-19 Hospital”. Dr Santhosh, who has experience working in internationally sensitive areas including the Ebola-hit regions, set up a huge space as per the specifications.
“The government decision was crucial as it helped address the issue both physically and emotionally,” said Dr Santhosh, who headed the team from the capital.
According to him, the people in Kasaragod were feeling neglected as Karnataka, the state they used to depend for every health needs due to proximity, shut its borders due to the district’s high incidence of COVID-19. “Our reaching there gave assurance to the people of Kasaragod that they are not neglected. People are no longer scared now,” he said.
According to figures released by the district administration, Kasaragod has reported just one case in the last five days, and more than 4,400 people have returned home in the last one month.
