Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network – Kasargod (EP)
Kasargod, Jun 3: “The government has decided to impose stringent regulations in Kerala from June 5 to June 9 as the Covid cases are yet to come under control,” said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The decision was taken at the Covid review meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, June 3.
The current exemptions will continue till 7 pm on Friday, June 4. Apart from that, shops selling essential commodities and construction material are allowed to operate till June 9. Government organizations, corporations etc., can function with 50 per cent of staff after June 10 instead of the earlier June 7.
Representational image
The official government order further made the negative Covid report compulsory for people arriving from outside the state. Those in gram panchayat limits along the state border will be vaccinated. The rate of positive cases in Kerala has not declined and continued to remain above 15% for the last week. It was 15.33 per cent on Thursday, while it stood at 19.5 per cent in Kasargod. It was expected to fall below 10%. Since the cases continue to show a spike in the number, the probability of the lockdown extending after June 9 is high.
Further, a decision to ramp up testing so as to identify those infected was also taken in the meeting of the advisory committee on Thursday. The meeting was presided over by deputy commissioner Sajith Babu.
“There are 777 wards in the Kasargod district administration. Tests will be conducted once every 14 days in these wards and 4,125 tests will be performed every day,” said the deputy commissioner. “People should strictly follow Covid protocol to break the chain of infection,” he added.
“The food kits should be distributed among the eligible beneficiaries including fishermen of Kerala and those of other states,” he said. On the occasion, the district food and civil supplies officer informed that the kits for the month of May were being distributed.
“Vaccination for those above 45 years in scheduled caste colonies will be completed by the end of this week,” said the health officer.
DSP P B Rajiv stated that the police patrolling was increased across 72 checkpoints to prevent lockdown violation.
Additional DC Atul S Nath, assistant deputy commissioner, D R Meghashree, district medical officer, K R Rajan, assistant district medical officer, Dr A V Ramadas, district supply officer, K N Bindu, finance officer, Meena Rani, district social welfare officer, Shiba Muntai, district child protection officer, C A Bindu and other members of the committee were present.
The district has reported 560 new cases of Covid on Thursday. While 545 people have been discharged, 5,827 are under observation.