Pinarayi to Kerala citizens: Maintain travel journal to make contact tracing easier
The disaster management authority has warned of a big spike in active cases by August end
Kerala Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked people to maintain details of their travel history which would help in contact tracing in case if they get infected by virus.
“People’s cooperation is crucial to battle COVID-19 cases with unknown source of infection. Everyone should keep a ‘break the chain’ diary with details of the vehicles in which they commuted, vehicle number, the time and the name of hotel, shops or other places visited. Details can be recorded in phone or in a notebook. This will help in tracing the contact details of the person if he tests positive for the virus,” chief minister said.
The State Disaster Management Authority has warned of a big spike in the number of active cases by August end, despite the strict vigil and effective control measures taken by the government continues. “There may be an increase or decrease in the projected spike in number of active cases. Any lapse in the strict vigil and control measures will significantly increase the number of cases,” he said.
The state has only 109 cases per million of the total tested while the number is 362 at national level. The mortality rate in Kerala is 0.6 per cent as against 3.1 per cent nationally. Of the 22 deaths reported from the state, 20 patients have other serious medical conditions, Pinarayi Vijayan said.
According to the Kerala chief minister the major achievement is minimising the number of infections through contact. “Despite the huge inflow of non resident Keralites, only seven per cent of positive persons spread virus through contact. Local spread from the remaining 93 per cent of NRKs could be prevented with strict quarantine measures.”
On Friday, 123 new cases were reported in the state taking the total number to 3726. The number of active cases is 1763.