Panchayats in Kerala to set up first line COVID-19 treatment centres

Taking into consideration the rapid increase in COVID-19 infections across Kerala, the state government has decided to set up 100-bed first line treatment centres (FLTCs) in all the panchayats, to keep the rush away from the frontline Covid-19 hospitals, where the critical cases are treated. In this regard, health workers will be deployed on an emergency basis.

As part of the initiative, the government has allotted Rs 10 crore each to district collectors. Auditoriums and community halls in every panchayat and municipality will be arranged to accommodate the patients. In Ernakulam first line Covid-19 treatment centers have been functioning from the past one month, housing a bulk of Covid-19 patients.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan said that the infections are more prevalent in 10 large community clusters which includes Ponnani in Malappuram district, Chellanam in Ernakulam and Poonthura in Thiruvananthapuram among the 84 clusters across the state. Meanwhile, the CM asked people to be more alert against misleading information about Covid-19 being spread as any carelessness in this time will lead to huge disaster.

“As a result of the tireless efforts and vigilance of our society, we have been successful in keeping the deaths per million under one…but if there are loopholes in our defences, it may lead to a huge disaster. We cannot afford to make any mistake on the back of misinformation,” the CM said.

On July 16, Kerala registered 722 fresh cases with the covid tally crossing 10,997. The number of active cases stands at 5,372, with 4,862 recoveries. 39 people have so far died of coronavirus in the state. Experts pointed out that rise in covid cases without a clear origin of infection will reach community transmission stage soon.