Reiterating that people should avoid large gatherings during the festival season that is coming up, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan Sunday pointed to Kerala, which had controlled the spread of Covid initially to be tagged as a model state but then “paid the price for its gross negligence” during the week-long festivities to mark Onam in the end of August.
During his weekly interaction on social media, Harsh Vardhan also acknowledged that community transmission “is expected to occur, especially in densely populated areas” but “limited to certain districts in a limited number of states”.
Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja sought to play down the Union Minister’s comments on “negligence” during Onam, saying he had not criticised the state but was “alerting other states to take steps to avoid gatherings, which had happened in Kerala during the Onam celebrations”.
However, Kerala’s Opposition parties described the Centre’s remarks as a “chargesheet” that highlighted the “failure” of the Left regime.
