Kerala is now surging in terms of corona cases. “Kerala hospitals are in Plan C stage now,” said Dr. Shameer VK of the Calicut Medical College in the district of Kozhikode. In March, the Kerala government had drawn up Plan A, Plan B and Plan C to meet the emergencies in COVID-19 cases, depending on the stage of transmission. Plan C was meant to be operationalized in case the state entered the third stage of transmission, that is when it is presumed that the virus is, in general, being spread in the community with no known source of infection, and as a result, there is an increase in cases.

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On Thursday, Kerala recorded 6,324 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stating, “It’s getting serious”. This figure had been wavering between 3,000 and 5,000 in the last few days and weeks. The situation continues to look gloomy, especially in Thiruvananthapuram, the district that has the highest number of active COVID-19 patients (at 8,740) and even reported community spread in two regions in August. In view of the massive spike, hospitals in Kerala are now activating the contingency measures under Plan C, which is to further strengthen the state’s medical infrastructure.

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To welcome more COVID-19 patients, per Plan C, private hospitals will be roped in and more beds in government hospitals will be freed up for critically-ill COVID-19 patients. According to the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) bulletin on Friday, 371 patients are in ICUs and 96 patients are on ventilator support across Kerala. In less than a fortnight (September 5 to 18), the number of patients in the ICU went from 200 to 300. The number of patients on ventilators has been varying between 60 and nearly 100 in the last two weeks.

Kerala CM Vijayan is all worried as corona cases continue to surge