As Kerala sees a spike in COVID-19 cases, the state government on Wednesday said that it will impose a triple lockdown for shops at places where 10 people in a population of 1,000 are infected in a week. However, amid a spike in cases, the government has to relax certain lockdown norms in areas where covid cases are showing a stabilising trend.
Issuing a notification the state government ordered that only shops selling essential items will be allowed to open in such locations. Otherwise all shops will be allowed to function on six days except Sundays. However, August 15 and August 22 are Sundays, they will be exempted from the lockdown due to Independence Day and Onam respectively.
Besides, the state government has also decided to extend shop timings from 7 am till 9 pm. People visiting shops will be allowed entry by ensuring social distancing of 25 square feet, the order states.
A maximum of 40 people can visit the places of worship which are generally spacious, while up to 20 people can attend weddings and funerals.
Meetings would be held with local self-government bodies, police and traders in this regard, she added. Noting that the practice of avoiding political, cultural and social gatherings, which used to attract huge crowds, should be continued, George said people should visit the places of worship considering its area and space.
For the past nearly three months Kerala was under lockdown based on the test positivity rate and all local bodies with a TPR above 15 per cent were closed down. Incidentally, these new guidelines have come at a time when on Tuesday there were 42,625 new Covid cases in the country of which Kerala reported 23,676 cases. Of 4,10,353 active cases, Kerala had 1,73,221 active cases.
George said that the reason for opening up was the economic situation in the state.
"Kerala started facing the second wave of Covid and with 56 per cent of the state's population still free from Covid, it's natural we will be reporting more number of daily cases. But when it comes to the death rate Kerala has done well with the death rate standing at 0.5 per cent while the national average is 1.34," said George.
She added that one way to tackle Covid is through vaccinating all and Kerala has done well in that aspect also and is waiting for more vaccine supplies.
"So far 1.48 crore people have got their first jab, while 62 lakh have received both the doses. And if one looks into the rate of vaccination Kerala has a higher figure than the national average," added George.
