Don't take coronavirus lightly, says Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala health minister K K Shailaja on Monday cautioned the people to take the coronavirus seriously by maintaining the health protocol such as social distancing, hand-wash and masks.

As part of the phase-by-phase easing of restrictions imposed due to the virus-induced lockdown, the Centre had decided to re-open the places of worship, malls and government offices across the country from Monday.

"This is a disease anyone can get infected with. We cannot take thepandemic lightly. We all need to strictly maintainsocial distancing," the Minister told reporters.

The government had issued strict guidelines in this regard and if people diligentlyfollow the instructions, they need not worry about the community spread, she said.

The Minister said the antibodytests are not conclusive, as the positive results in such tests may differ from the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

"We cannot completely go by them," she said.

Shailaja said home quarantine is effectively room quarantine, which should be strictly followed, and that it has proven to be more effective in containing the spread than institutional quarantine.

Later, the minister reeled out statistics on how many people have come to the state during the lockdown period.

Till now, 1,87,619 people have reached the state from outside. At least 1,20,590 came through various checkposts and 47,033 by flights from various countries; 1,621 came by sea and 18,375 by rail, she pointed out.