English
Thiruvananthapuram: The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government on Friday decided to continue with the Sunday lockdown after the state reported over 30,000 covid cases for two days in a row. To recall, an exemption was given in the Sunday lockdown in the last two weeks by the state government. On Thursday, the state logged 30,007 fresh cases of covid-19. It is important to note that the government has also decided to maintain the current Covid-19 restrictions in the state.
Taking stock of the COVID-19 situation in Kerala and reviewing steps taken by the state government to contain the spread of the virus, Union Home Secretary suggested the authorities consider imposing night curfews in areas with high COVID-19 cases.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a press statement released on Thursday after a meeting said, “More efforts would be required to arrest the increase in infections.” Further, the ministry asked the state to “explore the possibility of placing night curfew in areas of high positivity”.
“This would require adequate intervention in geographical areas having higher infection, through measures such as contact tracing, vaccination drives and COVID-appropriate behaviour.”
According to official data, Kerala is the only state in the country reporting over one lakh active COVID-19 cases, while four states have active cases in the range of 10,000 to one lakh and 31 have less than 10,000 active cases of the infection.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who visited Kerala on August 16, announced a special package of Rs 267.35 crore for the southern state to strengthen its health infrastructure.
During his visit, Mandaviya had a meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Health Minister Veena George and officials. He also announced that the Centre would provide all possible help to the state.
Besides, it was promised that an amount of Rs 1 crore would be made available to each district in Kerala to create a pool of medicines.
With 46,164 people testing positive for the infection in a day, India’s COVID-19 tally has climbed to 3,25,58,530, while the number of active cases has shot up to 3,33,725, the Union health ministry said on Thursday.
The death toll due to the viral disease has gone up to 4,36,365 with 607 fresh fatalities, according to the ministry’s data.
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