Second wave likely to be prolonged in Kerala: CM

Huge population of susceptible individuals who are yet to be exposed

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the second wave of COVID-19 is likely to be prolonged in the State as Kerala still has a huge population of susceptible individuals who are yet to be exposed to the virus. It was quite possible that when lockdown is relaxed, many of these people might get infected, keeping disease transmission a continuous process. He appealed to the people to take the collective responsibility of preventing an upsurge in COVID-19 cases, a third wave and future lockdowns in the State by maintaining all COVID-19 protocols strictly as lockdown restrictions are being relaxed. Crowding should be avoided on the streets and public places at all costs. Addressing the media here on Tuesday, Mr. Vijayan said that no country had been able to totally wipe out or stop COVID-19. The only strategy that the governments could adopt was strengthening health system infrastructure and ensuring that disease transmission was kept to a certain level so that health systems were not stressed. This had been managed very well in Kerala, he said.