A young Dr Ashley Franclin is among the first batch of 'Covid Brigade' in Kerala being trained. She is part of a team which will be sent to the state's northern-most district Kasaragod. But the decision to serve during a pandemic from a district around 560 km away from her home in Thiruvananthapuram has been far from easy for this young mother, who has a two-year-old child. Around 10,000 medical practitioners have signed up to be part of the ‘Covid Brigade’ in Kerala - a paid dedicated task force, even as the state is anticipating up to 10,000 cases per day by next month, according to officials.