Triple lockdown will come into effect in four Kerala districts reporting the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the state, from Sunday midnight and remain in force till May 23. The boundaries of the Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Malappuram districts will be sealed as part of the administration's bid to arrest the massive spread of coronavirus, while the current lockdown will continue in the other 10 districts of the state.
According to the guidelines issued by the Thiruvananthapuram district administration, shops dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat and fish, animal fodder, poultry and cattle feed, bakeries will be open on alternate days starting from Monday onwards.
All shops will close, including for home delivery purposes by 2 pm. Banks, insurance and financial services will function with minimal staff on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 am to 1 pm. Cooperative Banks will remain open only on Monday and Thursday from 10 am to 1 pm.
According to the guidelines, milk and newspaper distribution shall be completed before 8 am.
Fair price shops (Ration/PDS/Maveli /Supplyco shops) and milk booths are permitted to function on all days till 5 pm while restaurants and hotels will be allowed to function from 7 am to 7.30 pm with home delivery services only.
No dine-in and take-away/parcels shall be allowed in any restaurants or hotels, it said.
Medical shops, petrol pumps, ATMs, shops selling life-saving equipment, hospitals and other clinical establishments shall be functioning on all days.
Authorities have advised the public to buy provisions and vegetables from shops near their houses and not to travel long distances for the purchase of provisions and vegetables.
Public will be prevented from travelling long distances for purchase of essential commodities, they said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said drones and Geo Fencing technology will be used and strict restrictions would be clamped in these districts.
Police in Ernakulam districts have said all district borders will be sealed, besides absolutely closing all the containment zones in the district.
They said all houses with positive and primary contact family members will be sealed and no person from containment zones will be allowed to step out even if he or she belongs to the exempted category of work.
Only essential services persons will be allowed to move out for their work. No outside person will be allowed into containment zones for even if it is exempted category work.
Basically containment zones will be islands which should ideally have all facilities within like provision stores, etc, they said. "We will only allow supply of provisions into them.
Everyone who comes out will be asked for covid RT PCR negative certificate issued in the last 72 hours", police said.
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