The complex story of rising COVID-19 cases in Kerala

Malappuram, the most densely populated district of Kerala, epitomises the challenges the State faces in controlling the rising number of COVID-19 infections. Abdul Latheef Naha and C. Maya explain how the State, which seemed to have a grip on the pandemic, has been faltering

“Two people have died. Please come and pack the bodies,” a nurse tells the cleaning staff who are on a break. Within a few minutes, cleaning assistants Asokan M. and Dileep Kumar and a few others begin to prepare the bodies. It is August 3 and two elderly men have succumbed to COVID-19 at the Government Medical College Hospital in Manjeri. The relatives of the dead request the staff to dress the bodies in new clothes one last time. The hospital staff, witness to four-five deaths every day on average since April, are used to the routine. They clean the bodies and pack them in specially designated body bags. The Manjeri Medical College is the biggest referral hospital for COVID-19 in Malappuram, the most densely populated district in Kerala (1,265 persons per square kilometre). It has 344 beds dedicated to COVID-19 cases and 203 beds dedicated to non-COVID-19 cases. The second wave may be on the wane in most places in India, but here . The hospital staff are under great pressure. No one here contests the fact that the Medical College Hospital, which admits only C-category patients (those whose recovery is impossible without proper medical intervention), is not adequately equipped to treat the many patients coming from a district of 48 lakh people. Malappuram is currently the worst-hit district in the State, reporting the maximum number of daily new cases (3,645 new cases on August 5). While many are wondering why Kerala, which seemed to have a grip of the pandemic at one point, seems to be floundering now, Malappuram is often cited as a case in point.