Even as some states in India resorted to complete lockdown for containing the widespread of Covid 19, Kerala decided against invoking complete lockdown but decided to continue with the weekly/night lockdowns.
The All-Party meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, April 26, took the decision. The meeting decided not to have victory celebrations by any of the party after the declaration of assembly elections results on May 2, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
Meanwhile, the state on Monday confirmed 21,890 Covid 19 cases and the test positivity rate stood at 22.71. With the Covid 19 cases increasing and the test positivity rate above 20 per cent, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala Chapter, called for a lockdown in the state for at least a week.
ALL PARTY MEET
The political parties who took part in the meeting opined that a complete lockdown would affect the state’s finance and shatter the life of the people.
The All Party meet decided to stop functioning of Theatres, Shopping Malls, Gymnasiums, Swimming Pools, Sports Complex, Clubs, Bars and Foreign Liquor Shops for a while, Vijayan said.
The shops can remain open until 7.30 pm as per restrictions currently being enforced. The Shop owners had requested the government to extend this until 9 pm. The meeting also decided to tighten the restrictions in the containment zone areas as well as in those areas where Covid-19 transmission is intense and positivity rate high, the Chief Minister said.
With respect to the day of counting, Pinarayi said that the public are not allowed in counting centres. Officials on duty, counting agents and media persons will only be allowed, he added.
INCREASE IN CASES
Most of the districts in the state recorded more than 2000 cases on Monday. Kozhikode district had the highest number of 3251 Covid 129 positive cases. Ernakulam was the next in line with 2515 cases. When Malappuram reported 2455 positive cases, Thrissur had 2416, Thiruvananthapuram 2272, Kannur 1618, Palakkad 1342, Kottayam 1275, Alappuzha 1183, Kasaragod 1086, Idukki 779, Kollam 741, Wayanad 500 and Pathanamthitta 457 positive cases.
The health officials said that 96,378 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. A total of 1,52,13,100 samples have been tested so far, including LAMP and antigen testing. The officials said that no one from the UK, South Africa or Brazil tested positive. With 28 deaths on Monday, the total toll due to Covid 19 in the state stood at 5138 until now.
The health officials pointed out that 230 of those diagnosed with the disease ion Monday were from outside the state. They said that 20,088 people got the infection through contact and the contact sources for 1502 unknown. They also pointed out that Coronavirus affected 70 health workers on Monday.
At present, 4,98,196 people are under surveillance in the state. Of these, 4,77,778 are under home / institutional quarantine and 20,418 in hospitals. A total of 3731 people were admitted to the hospital today.
Kerala recorded 28,469 cases on April 25.
INDIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
The IMA warned that the second wave of the epidemic spread rapidly in the state. The presence of a rapidly spreading genetically modified virus should also be suspected. Therefore, strict measures are necessary to reduce the spread and prevent the disease. The disease, which spreads rapidly from one person to many, is spreading rapidly and the number of patients in our hospitals is suffocating, said IMA State President Dr P T Zacharias and State Secretary Dr. P. Gopikumar.
They said that only preventing the public from gathering would help prevent the spread of the disease. The IMA wanted to ban all celebrations and ceremonies. They also wanted the people not to make unnecessary travels.
The IMA opined that tests should be increased along with Zero surveillance tests. The IMA also called for ensuring the availability of oxygen and drugs such as Remdesvir. They also said that it was imperative to increase the number of hospital beds, ICUs and ventilator facilities, both in the public and private sectors.
