Kerala to not go under complete lockdown immidiately, confirms CM Pinarayi Vijayan
After the government convened an all-party meeting to elicit the opinion of various leaders on another shutdown, Kerala decided to not go for another complete lockdown, but to strengthen surveillance in clusters as the state reported 885 freah COVID-19 cases on Friday. "There were two opinions on lockdown. Some experts opined for a complete shut down, while others wanted the existing restrictions to be strengthened. I put forward the same before the all-party-meeting and the representatives were not in favour of the complete lockdown. They said that the current restrictions should be strengthened," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
The Opposition Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF)leader in the assembly, Ramesh Chennithala, had said the front was not for another lockdown, but a triple lockdown can be clamped in regions wherever required. BJP state general secretary George Kurian told the meetingthat a lockdown would cause immense hardships to the people and result instarvation deaths, a release quoting him said.
The state has been witnessing a sharp rise in cases, clocking over 1,000 in the last two days. However, on Friday the recoveries werehigher than the positive cases,bringing in some cheer.
As many as 24 health workers are among those who tested positive. Of the positive cases, 724 had contracted it through contact and the source of infection of 56 patients was not yet known, the Chief Minister said. As many as 9,371 people are presently under treatment for the disease and 1.56 lakh under observation.
Thiruvananthapuram continued to top the districts in viral load with 167 cases and 2,650 patients under treatment. Poonthura, Pulvilla, Puthukurichi and Beemapally are among the five large clusters in the coastal areas of the capital district where the cases have not reduced and were spreading to nearby areas,causingconcern to authorities. Ernakulam district has a total of 906 covid patients. A care home for the elderly and a convent there has seen a sharpspike in cases.
Forty people of the care home in Thrikkakara near Kochi were found infected following an antigen test carried out on 135 inmates, the Chief Minister said. Discussions wereheld with 1,129 private hospitals managements with regard to treatment of covid patients. In the first phase, about 200 hospitals have come forward and their services would also be used in Covid first line treatment centres, if required.
The state government has also drawn up an action plan to prevent super spread, Vijayan said. Areas reporting super spread would be divided into clusters and stringent monitoring would be carried out, he added.
(With PTI inputs)
