With test positivity rate showing a further uptick, the Kerala government has decided to crack down heavily on those violating social distancing and mask-wearing norms. In the last seven days, the TPR has shot up from 9.13 per cent to 11.18 per cent.
What has given the government a new urgency is an official study that has revealed that 65 per cent of the infected had flouted social distancing norms and 45 per cent of the victims had not worn masks.
The police will be pressed into service to monitor and enforce the restrictions. They will assist the sectoral magistrates who now oversee the adherence to COVID-19 protocols by the public. The number of sectoral magistrates will also be increased.
Marriages will have to strictly limit the number of guests to 100.
Daily testing, which now averages less than 65,000, will be amped up to one lakh.
However, re-introduction of earlier restrictions, like the closing down of theatres or malls or restaurants, has not been thought of for the moment.
The decisions were taken at the COVID-19 Review Meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday. "The restrictions will be particularly stringent in containment zones. The government is trying to bring down the spread by the middle of February," an official release from the Chief Minister's Office said.
During the meeting the chief minister told the meeting that 75 per cent of the daily tests should be the more accurate and highly reliable RT-PCR tests. This seems like a tall order as, at the moment, RT-PCR tests constitute just about 30 per cent of the total daily tests.
The meeting discussed a study that was conducted by the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, which once again emphasised the importance of masks and social distancing.
According to the findings of the study, 56 per cent of the infected contract the virus from inside their homes. "It is those coming from outside with the virus who infect those inside the homes," the study noted, a clear evidence of lax social distancing.
It said that 20 per cent of the infected get the virus from markets, shopping malls and restaurants. Another 20 per cent get the virus from work places. "65 per cent of the infected are those who had not followed social distancing norms, and 45 per cent of the infected had not worn masks," the study said.
Universal use of masks become all the more important because 30 per cent of the infected had got the virus asymptomatic carriers. It was also found that 5 per cent of the infected children had got it from schools. "However, 47 per cent of the infected kids have got it from within their homes," the study said.
