Kerala houseboats likely to join fight against COVID-19

Dubai: Kerala’s famed houseboats in the backwaters of Alappuzha could soon double up as isolation wards to fight coronavirus.

Alappuzha District Collector M Anjana on Thursday visited the Punnamada Finishing Point, the main parking point of houseboats in the district and held discussions with officials, agencies reported.

“The Alappuzha model of handling COVID-19 has been one of preparedness and prevention. In the first phase we did this successfully, but in the second phase we propose to have a different strategy. Though our numbers are comparatively less, we need to augment our isolation facilities,” M. Anjana told ANI.

“We have sufficient number of facilities but in the process of augmenting the facilities we have had extensive discussions with the houseboat owners’ association. All the houseboat owners agree with the proposal and are willing to support the district administration in this respect,” she added.

She said that houseboats have different bed strengths.

“By bringing them together at a single spot or at two spots we would be able to convert them as a single isolation facility.” Plans are on to arrange 2,000 isolation beds in the houseboats.

A mock drill will be conducted on Friday to see if the challenges and targets are met when houseboats are used as isolation wards, reports said.

M. Malin, the District Tourism Promotion Council secretary, said discussions had been held with houseboat owners’ associations and they had agreed to provide their boats. Alappuzha has around 1,400 houseboats, some with multiple bedrooms.

Apart from control room and other facilities to be arranged by the health department, steps will also be taken for the distribution of drinking water and other essential services in houseboats.

During the floods in Kerala in 2018, houseboat owners allowed their boats to be used for rescue and relief activities. More than 30,000 people from the low lying Kuttanad area were rescued and allowed to stay in the boats.

The inland lagoons running parallel to the Kerala coast are one of the biggest tourist draws in the state. Though tourism picked up after the floods in 2018, it has been hit again due to the coronavirus now.

According to the data provided by the Kerala government as of Thursday evening, there are 394 COVID-19 cases in the state, out of which 147 are active cases. While 245 people have recovered, two deaths have been reported so far.