Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has confirmed what many have feared – Kerala is already in the community transmission stage of COVID-19.

The IMA has already informed the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan about this, the association's Kerala president Dr Abraham Varghese told Manorama Online. He said there were three reasons for IMA's conclusion.

The first is that the number of patients without symptoms is increasing. Secondly, health workers who have not attended to COVID patients are contracting the infection, like the two doctors in Edappal in Malappuram, for example.

The third reason is that those leaving Kerala without any symptoms are testing positive when they reach other states.

Edappal was in the middle of a scare after five health employees, including the two doctors, tested positive on June 27 midnight. Officials said the five were working till a day before they were tested positive and must have come in contact with at least 20,000 people.

The IMA has said that the number of tests in the state should be increased and that more tests should be conducted among health workers.

Controlling the disease will not be easy once it reaches the community transmission stage, the IMA said.

Dr Varghese said besides increasing the number of tests, restrictions imposed to fight the disease should also be tightened.

People should act responsibly at this stage. The situation is so grave that Kerala may need another complete lockdown, he said.

Many people in the state are misusing the relaxations in lockdown restrictions. The concessions should be removed and the anti-COVID measures should be strictly implemented, he said.

Dr Varghese said many people are going about their daily lives thinking they will not get COVID. The lockdown stipulations must be tightened to make such people behave responsibly, he said.

The IMA also pointed out that many people don’t maintain social distancing and vehicles and marketplaces are crowded. They don’t use masks to cover their mouths and the noses; they rather let it rest on their necks when they move around or travel.

The crisis can be overcome only with restrictions and if people behave responsibly, the IMA said.

There has been an alarming rise in the number of cases in Kerala in the past few days. On Friday, the state recorded its highest daily count of 211, after registering over 100 cases for about two weeks.

Many areas in Thiruvananthapuram have been declared as containment zones, forcing the district administration to sound a high alert to contain COVID.

The state capital has been seeing a spike in the number of cases with no known source.

In Kochi, the police have increased monitoring and have started acting against people not following guidelines issued by the state against COVID.

Also, at least 15 employees of Indira Gandhi Hospital at Kadavanthra are in quarantine after an out-patient who had visited the hospital two days ago tested positive.