Kerala’s Health Minister AKA ‘The Coronavirus Slayer’ has been featured on the cover of Vogue India.
KK Shailaja has been at the forefront of the state’s battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak. The Indian edition of fashion and lifestyle magazine paid tribute to the minister by featuring her in ‘Women of the Year 2020’ series.
‘There’s no time to be scared. More than fear, I feel an enthusiasm to get involved,’ says #KKShailaja, Kerala’s minister for health, social justice and women and child development. Read the exclusive interview here. #VogueWOTY2020https://t.co/vrf0mfDmUQ pic.twitter.com/YVDiTe6n4i
— VOGUE India (@VOGUEIndia) November 9, 2020
The November 2020 edition of the magazine highlighted the fact that the Kerala government encountered and tactfully handled several disasters including two floods, a cyclone and two infectious disease outbreaks— Nipah virus in 2018 and now COVID-19. The health department, headed by Shailaja, proactively initiated actions to keep a check on the outbreak of the virus.
‘Kerala was criticised for overreacting, but we knew it was very infectious. We don’t have the resources to manage large amount of patients so we had to make sure numbers were low,’ the minister said during the interview.
‘Right now, when a patient goes to a hospital, there are beds available, nobody is being turned away from lack of capacity. We have to maintain that,’ she added.
Early this year in June, the United Nations (UN) had honoured Shailaja for Kerala’s effective management of the COVID-19 outbreak. Nine months into the pandemic and she is still considered one of the few woman leaders, across the globe, who had accurately responded to the crisis, reported Vogue.
Vogue has even changed its Twitter display picture to Shailaja featuring on their cover page.
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