How is that Kerala could effectively combat COVID 19

How is it that Kerala could in actual fact productively combat COVID-19 when the world at large appeared not well prepared to respond to this health emergency?

The Kerala Left Democratic govt. Under the leadership of CM Pinarayi Vijayan in close collaboration with his team and people have managed to successfully curtail the human and economic losses whether due to the floods, the Nipah Virus, outbreak and now the covid19 pandemic which has surprisingly made Kerala a role model and topic of discussion worldwide.

 In Kerala the congress being in the opposition has been in working together and playing a role in living aside all the political differences in creating success towards the fight against covid19.

The credit also goes to our Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi having won accolades for the bold, timely decision of imposing a nationwide lockdown on 24 th March to fight the corona virus crisis,  and the  subsequent implementation by the left govt.religiously played a crucial role in flattening the curve

This becomes more evident that the Governor Arif Mohammed Khan appreciating the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and health minister  K. K Shailaja along with the entire team for doing a wonderful job in flattening the curve of corona virus in Kerala is note worthy. Finally a lesson to learn from the pandemic grappled by the entire world Kerala has shown that being a Gods own country  we are all protected and governed by nature. A healthy environment provides nutrients that flow up the food chain, from plants to animals, to provide energy. … By preserving nature, the planet and all its inhabitants are guaranteed a constant supply of clean water and fresh air resulting in building a strong immune system which is the need of the hour to fight against the corona virus menace  by protecting and preserving the ecological balance.

The government under the leadership of Pinarayi Vijayan did not lose any time when it was alerted to Covid-19’s dangers and proceeded to raise people’s awareness even as first world leaders like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson continued to overlook the urgency of the situation in the initial months.

Kerala was the first state in India to have the first case of corona positive on 30th January with topping the charts alarmingly with more cases than elsewhere in the country before WHO declaring it as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The population of Kerala is 33 million with 667 confirmed positive cases and only four deaths reported till date. On the other hand Italy and Spain too had confirmed the first case of covid positive on 31st January on par with Kerala.Today as on 22nd May 2020 Italy having a population of 66 million has 2,28,000 confirmed positive cases and the death toll has reached 32,486, whereas Spain with a population of 41.1

 million people corona virus cases have touched 2,33,037 and the death toll figure is 27,940.

For example if we look into the third case study of New York the most developed state of U.S and Kerala as compared to highlight and understand the severe difference in the approach of two states. The population of Kerala is 33 million while that of New York is 19 million. The per capita income of Kerala is $2,937 while that of New York state is $88,981. There are 1.8 hospital beds for every 1,000 people in Kerala whereas the corresponding figure for New York is 3.1 beds. Kerala has 1.7 doctors per 1,000 persons, New York is credited with 3.8 doctors. However, the total corona positive cases in Kerala as on May 20 was 667 people of which the state had reported just four deaths while 12 had returned recently to the state from abroad and 12 from opening of inter state boundaries.161 people in the state are still undergoing treatment and 502 having recovered out of a total of 667.On the subsequent date, New York state had over 3,57,757  corona positive cases with more than 28,437deaths as per New York times official report updated May20,2020,8:37A.M

Kerala has the lowest mortality rate as well as the highest recovery rate with respect to corona virus infections having half the population size  compared to entire Italy or double the population of New York State. The initial statistical projection of cases and deaths became outmoded due to the organic method adopted by Kerala. The number of tests conducted in Kerala is just 10 per cent of the figures for countries such as the US , Italy and spain. The real but aggressive contact tracing and keeping a large number of people under observation helped Kerala in preventing community spread. Ninety per cent of the positive cases were detected among people who were kept under observation.

The credit should go to Kerala’s strong local governance, effective social structure and well-knit multi-layered public health formation. The state may be way behind in industrial production, but its human development indices are the best foundation of social equality. Kerala is well known for its heavy dose of politics which is prevalent in all aspects of life in the state.A positive feature of this is that there is a close interconnect between the layers of administration and people. Larger civil society is quite familiar with the links between citizens’ health and good governance, consider health equality as one of the foundational prerequisites for social equality.

Kerala is known for the welfare measures it has taken for the people of the state and is considered a welfare state. The state has initiated many social security schemes for the poor and the needy as the concept of a welfare state pre-supposes careful planning and effective implementation of welfare services for the weaker sections of the community which becomes more handy during any crisis.

The presence of multiple voices expect both people and government to help each other, connecting network till the micro level  in building a strong public health system with utmost belief and trust being the main reason for the success of any disaster striking Kerala.

 One can argue that Kerala’s success is intrinsically connected to its vibrant public sphere in which the ideas of rights and citizenship are debated constantly.

The success of the current government in battling the pandemic lies in its judicious realization of the political and civic sensibilities of its people and its ability to extract solutions based on these factors.

And for the rest of us Indians, we need to figure out…Finally what matters??? Communal supremacy, ideological pride, retrospecting  history or a system that promises us a good, healthy, respectable quality of life for us and our family….Think about it!