Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Monday announced one more week extension of the statewide lockdown till June 16, to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stores selling essential commodities, raw materials for industries, including packaging, construction materials and banks will continue to function as they do now, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
On June 12 & 13, the state will be put under complete lockdown. On these days, all shops except those selling essential goods will be shut down. Travel will be allowed only for emergency purposes like hospital visit or vaccination etc.
All restrictions presently in force will continue for another week.
The decision was taken in the review meeting chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
Other decision taken in the meeting:
• All exams scheduled to begin on June 15 postponed.
• Stationary, footwear, jewellery, textile and optical shops can function on June 11 from 7am till 7pm.
• Government offices, public sector undertakings, corporations and commissions can function with 50 per cent staff from June 17.
• All necessary aid will be provided to private hospitals for conducting vaccination drives.
• Vehicle workshops and service centres can be opened on June 11. However, sales will not be allowed in vehicle showrooms.
• Lawyers and high court officials will be included in the priority list for vaccination drive.
• Those who need to obtain certificates from Revenue offices for NEET application can get the same from e-District portal.
The state has been under lockdown since May 8 following the sharp rise in coronavirus cases. The government had earlier extended the statewide shutdown thrice - on May 16, May 23 and May 31 after reviewing the situation.
On Monday, the state reported 9,313 new COVID-19 cases and 221 more deaths. The infection count now stood at 26,42,395 and the death toll at 10,157, while 21,921 persons recuperated from the disease, taking the total cured in the state to 24,83,992. Currently, 1,47,830 people are under treatment and 6,32,868 under observation of which 39,061 are in isolation wards.
Earlier, experts had advised the government not to lift lockdown before bringing the test positivity rate (TPR) below 10 per cent. However, some had also recommended allowing more relaxations as they claimed that the TPR is still because only those with symptoms are being tested.
As normal life has come to a near standstill, another suggestion was to continue the restrictions only in highly-affected areas.
Though the TPR fell sharply from 30 to 15 in the second wave, there has not been much drop after that. Subsequently, stricter curbs have been imposed till Wednesday (June 9). But due to the confusion over the curbs, the police and the public got into altercations at several places.
No action was taken so far to address the ambiguity and confusion in the order on stricter restrictions.
