COVID-19 and Lessons from ‘Triple Lock’: COVID Containment Strategy of Kerala Police

This Article reviews Kerala’s efforts to check the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) without additional expenditure or infrastructure and employing the state police forces. This was remarkable in the face of the fact that healthcare systems were stretched the world over and were struggling beyond capacity to treat the number of people affected by the virus. To add to the overstretched healthcare systems, there were reports of attacks on healthcare workers and facilities. The state of Kerala was among the first to report a coronavirus case in January 2020. Against this backdrop, Kerala’s approach to mobilize the state’s resources, particularly the police, ran counter to that of many other states and their demands for assistance and financial support from the central government. This article details how one state addressed the problem during a national and international crisis. It includes a review of Kerala’s lateral thinking and successful case studies from the field. This research provides strategic thinking and solutions that other states could potentially follow when dealing with pandemics within their borders, both today and in the future.