Kerala Will Impose Lockdown-Like Restrictions For The Upcoming Two Sundays

The Kerala government made the decision on Thursday to impose lockdown-like limitations on the upcoming two Sundays, permitting only essential services to operate. The decision came into force after the state recorded a steep rise after detecting46,387 new Covid-19 cases, the highest ever single-day spike.

With 46,387 new cases, the test positivity rate has risen to 40.2 percent, the highest level since the pandemic began. In the last 24 hours, the state analyzed 1,15357 samples. Thiruvananthapuram, the worst-affected capital district, has 9720 new cases, with a test positivity rate of 46.68 percent. TPR has increased to 45.6 percent and 42 percent in the districts of Ernakulam and Kozhikode, accordingly. There were 32 new Covid-19 fatalities recorded, and 309 additional deaths were added to the Covid-19 death count after admitting, pushing the number of fatalities to 51,501.

The number of patients hospitalized in a district has been used as the primary criterion for categorizing districts. Ernakulam, Alappuzha, and Kollam districts have been grouped together in the A classification, whereas Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, and Wayanad have been grouped together in the B category. Only 50 people would be allowed to attend all functions in A-category districts. Only 20 people will be allowed to attend functions in B category districts. Devotees can attend rituals online instead of going to places of worship in the B category. No public gatherings would be permitted in C category districts, however, 20 people would be permitted to attend marriage and death rites.

There was no decision to shut down malls or tourism centres, but instructions were made to guarantee that Covid procedure and effective crowd management were followed. Feeding mothers and chronic patients employed in both the public and private sectors would be permitted to work from home.

On Thursday, out of 46387 new cases reported, 29,926 had been fully vaccinated and 2162 had received their first dose of vaccination. The number of infected has also increased among health personnel who were among the first to receive two doses of vaccination. Three hundred and eighty-five health personnel tested positive on Thursday. Hospitals, police stations, educational institutions, and hostels have all developed institutional clusters in Kerala.

Meanwhile, during the week of January 13-19, the number of registered patients, those admitted to hospitals, field hospitals, ICU, ventilator, and oxygen-supported beds climbed by 201%, 70%, 126%, 48%, 14%, and 64%, respectively, as compared to the last week.