Now take another example of Kerala, which has been contributing over 50 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases in India. Even on August 5, Kerala reported 23,676 new cases, the highest single-day spike since May 29. There is no denying the fact that performance of Kerala is best among all states of the country, but even then situation there is alarming.
In this situation, the Centre should have avoided criticizing the state and established better coordination to ascertain the reasons and doing its best to support the state in all aspects to control the pandemic, because if we fail in Kerala, we would be defeated in other states which have lesser infrastructure in the form of medical facilities, medical professionals and networks at the grassroots. The Centre must not treat the alarming situation in Kerala as a state subject and sit idle in Delhi, only issuing guidelines, and playing politics.
India has been struggling to contain the spread of new COVID-19 variants, such as Delta for the last few months, which is more infectious and is suspected to bypass the immunity. It was the major cause behind the second wave. A new mutation named Delta Plus has also been detected. To deal with the eventuality of a third wave, India needs to build the necessary medical infrastructure and prepare medical workers within the very short time available to us.
