'Experience is the best teacher' - this aphorism better suits Kerala currently and we can also put it in this way - Kerala has proved the essence of this aphorism as the state has become a model for rest of the country on flattening the curve of COVID-19 affected cases. Although the entire nation is on the war foot to fight the virus, Kerala has done something that has taken the state ahead in containing the spread successfully.

The model has been torching the way for the rest of the states and the root of the model was watered with the experience. Kerala, besides having a rich history and heritage, has a history of how the deadliest epidemics would pose a threat to human lives. The state had dealt with the Nipah pandemic in 2018 and the reminiscent of on-ground battle against Nipah has derived the pandemic dealing experience to the state letting it cement the trajectory to counter the Nipah's successor - Coronavirus (COVID-19). 

The state has reported the first positive case in India at the end of January and it had wakened up for the battle. It had alerted people, campaigned the preventive measures of the virus, unleashed its capabilities to blow away the invisible enemy and the state's trajectory had advanced the battle by containing the spread making it a model for the entire nation. When Prime Minister Modi had announced the nationwide lockdown on March 24, Kerala had the most number of cases in the country and currently, the state has the lowest fatality rate (0.53%) and highest recovered rate in India with about 85%. 

Kerala's proper planning and coordination have been credited for achieving the tag of India's success model. Besides being carried out early and extensive testing, contact tracing, installing proper medical mechanisms, quarantine facilities, and tightening the restrictions, it also has effectively balanced the health and hunger crisis. However, the state is now preparing for another round of the challenge and in fact, a huge challenge to face directly - the major influx of people from foreign countries particularly from the worst virus-hit Gulf countries.

The Indian government has been rescuing the stranded Indians from abroad through Vande Bharat and Samudra Setu missions and these would ferry thousands of Indians to their states and Kerala would be seeing a huge influx of returnees and the Pinarayi Vijayan government has been preparing to barricade the entry of the virus while welcoming people from abroad. According to our sources, the Kerala government has estimated that over 5 lakh people will return to the state from foreign countries in the coming days.

The government has been enhancing the mechanisms to ensure that the curve of the affected cases won't go upwards. The sources said that the government is prioritizing to receive elderly people, children, and pregnant women stranded abroad in the initial stage following which the rest of the people will be received. The state would carry out extensive and immediate testing for all the returnees and the positive cases will be isolated in the hospital while the negative cases will be kept under institutional quarantine in government facilities. 

The Kerala government has instructed the urban and rural local bodies to install the quarantine facilities to accommodate the returnees and over 42,000 empty houses have been acquired by the government for its quarantine mission and according to the government, it can quarantine over 2,00,000 people in the same time in these facilities. With the view of providing essential services to the quarantined people, the state has formed the Civil Defence force which will be functioning at the quarantine facilities across the state with proper medical and safety equipment. 

This team will be providing food, supplying essentials to the quarantined people during their isolation period. The quarantine people will be isolated based on their choice. If they wish to get quarantined in the government facilities, they will be provided with food and essentials at free of cost and if they wish to stay in hotels, they ought to bear the expenses for food and accommodation. 

The Kerala government has been sailing with the hope to counter the second wave of the challenge with an aphorism -' Experience is the best teacher' and it relies on the experience of how it has become the model on containing the virus as its countermeasures against the second wave and with the proper planning and collective co-ordination to fight the pandemic. 

According to the Union Health Ministry, Kerala has reported 576 cases so far as of Saturday of which 492 have recovered and four had succumbed to the virus and the death toll is relatively low than any other states and the recovery rate is higher than any other states making Kerala as one of the front runners in slaying the Coronavirus pandemic.