With Covid-19 cases going up steadily Kerala on Monday launched a house-to-house survey in affected areas and ramp up home quarantine facilities with the help of volunteers, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

“The government is going all out to mitigate the threat posed by pandemic. We have launched a cluster management strategy and introduced a surge plan in certain areas. In some cases sources are not identified so we have to keep utmost vigil,” Vijayan said.

The state was on the verge of flattening the Covid-19 curve in the first week of May but instead cases surged after expatriates and people stranded in other parts of the country started to return. At least 1.25 lakh expatriates and 2.50 lakh people from other states have returned to Kerala since the lockdown norms were relaxed in the first week of May.

The CM said vigil on home quarantine facilities will be strengthened and services of Covid volunteers will be used in a big way. The government had earlier floated a volunteer service comprising youth to help grassroots units of the virus management teams. They will keep an eye on those flouting quarantine norms and check “super spreaders”. Health workers have started house-to-house surveys in Covid-19 hotspots, he said. Since institutional quarantine is turning out to be a big financial burden, the state is laying more emphasis on home quarantine these days.

Kerala reported one more casualty taking the death toll to 24 while 121 new cases took the Covid-19 tally to 4310. There are now 2,057 active cases in the state while 2,229 have recovered. Nine CISF personnel and five health workers are among the new cases, the CM said.