Authors:

Abstract

Nowadays, the new narrative is the transformation of a zoonotic virus into an international predicament called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection which is affecting millions. In this pandemic situation, universal migration has had an adverse impact on the world healthcare scenario. As Kerala is a source destination for international migration and destination for internal and return migration, this paper aims to investigate the transmission dynamics of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Kerala in the light of migration. The study was conducted after creating a crowd-sourced dashboard on the details of the COVID-19 outbreak in Kerala which is available in the public domain (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3818096). The data of the COVID-19 situation in Kerala, which is crowdsourced, curated, and scientifically presented using the open data standards, formed the basis of this study. The study demonstrates that, even before community spread, return and internal migration has increased the spread of the infection in Kerala, particularly in the second phase of the disease outbreak. The largest number of COVID-19 positive cases in Kerala have been reported among migrants from the Middle East countries. The study shows an exponential growth in positive cases from July 2020, when flights continued to come in to Kerala with returning migrants. This study draws attention of the authorities and policy makers to the consequences of migration to healthcare systems, transit areas and destination areas in health emergencies.

Keywords: migration, pandemic, COVID-19, Kerala

How to Cite: Joseph, S. and Ulahannan, J.P., 2020. The Effects of Migration in the Transmission Dynamics of COVID-19 in Kerala, India. Rajagiri Journal of Social Development, 12(2), p.None.