| Summary/Abstract |
This article offers a cross-sectional exploration of the COVID-19 containment strategy in Kerala and highlights its initial effectiveness in the Kasaragod district, the first to record a second stage transmission in the state with a cluster of cases from 23 March 2020 onwards. Despite its underwhelming healthcare infrastructure, Kasaragod district managed to contain the transmission and record a 100 per cent recovery rate, indicating a promising model of infection control. However, the district subsequently succumbed to community-level transmission when another wave of positive cases of COVID-19 was detected among repatriated overseas citizens on 7 May 2020. The article explores the confluence of elements that allowed the initial successful recovery from a second stage transmission and then examines the factors that later led to community-level transmission. Given the close connections of Kerala to other parts of the world through migration, the article illustrates how precariously the local is now part of the global.
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