Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has put in place a three-pronged strategy to arrest within two months the COVID-19 surge the state is witnessing post Assembly elections. In less than 10 days, test positivity rate (the number of infected when 100 people are tested) in Kerala has shot up from less than 4 to over 13.
In addition to a slew of measures already introduced earlier this week, few more restrictions were announced on Thursday.
At least for the next two weeks, a virtual night curfew will be in place. Bars, hotels and cinema halls will have to remain shut after 9pm. The earlier curbs on standing travel in public buses has also been reintroduced.
Indoor events can now only be organised with 75 people while the participation for outdoor functions has been limited to 150. However, these restrictions would be waived if the event allows entry on the basis of a vaccination or negative test certificate.
And major functions in the family, marriages and house warming, should be informed to the district administration. Families need not seek approval for such functions. They only have to inform the district authorities in advance so that there would be official supervision at these functions.
These decisions, taken at a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, were announced by Chief Secretary V P Joy at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. Apart from Joy, the meeting was attended by Health Minister K K Shailaja, state police chief Loknath Behera, district collectors and other top officials.
Only those with COVID-19 negative certificates will be allowed to enter malls and markets.
Joy, however, dismissed the likelihood of another total lockdown.
"For Thrissur Pooram, the organisers have said they would put in place such a mechanism to control the crowd. Only those who had been vaccinated or having a negative test certificate will be allowed into the festival grounds," the chief secretary said.
The State is looking to curb the recent surge in COVID cases through three stages – extensive testing, strict control and intensive vaccination.
Mass testing in two days
Mass testing is one arm of the anti-COVID strategy. The plan is to collect 2.5 lakh samples of frontline workers on April 16 and 17 (Friday and Saturday). Usually, 60,000-65,000 samples are collected daily. "If we can identify the infected and quarantine them, the COVID-19 spread can be controlled to a large extent," the chief secretary said.
Frontline workers are mostly those having close contact with the public, especially transport workers, shop assistants, hotel and restaurant waiters and hospital bystanders. Since many frontline workers in the government sector, especially the health staff and the police, have been vaccinated, the focus will be on frontline workers in the private sector.
More samples will be collected from the most affected regions, the chief secretary said. Mobile testing units have been deployed for this purpose.
Intensive vaccination
The second part of the counter fight involves the stepping up of the vaccination effort. At the moment, there is a shortage of vaccines.
"We have already vaccinated 50 lakh people. The State has 7 lakh doses left. We will be looking to ramp up our vaccination drive in the coming days," Kerala chief secretary VP Joy said during a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
"We have asked the Centre to supply more vaccine doses. This will arrive in a few days. In the next phase of our vaccination campaign, those under the age of 45 will be tested, especially front-end workers like hotel staff and others," he added.
Kerala is vaccinating with a zero-waste policy. "No other state has managed that yet in the country," Joy said.
He also warned people against "vaccine hesitancy". There are over 1.15 crore people in the state above the age of 45. He said 65 lakh of them remain to be vaccinated.
People lead the way
Enforcement is the third arm of the enforcement campaign.
"Earlier, the people have taken their own measures to see that COVID restrictions are followed. We appreciate that. Do continue these efforts. It will help us curb the spread of COVID," Joy said.
He said the public should cooperate with the local admins and shift meetings and get-togethers online. Further, he said that "relatively unimportant events" should be postponed for at least two weeks.
Nonetheless, he said examinations would be conducted as scheduled. "In the case of examinations, we already have protocols in place," Joy said. "The only problem is transportation. We should ensure that the students are transported either in private vehicles or in school or college buses," he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urged all departments to work together. He said the next two weeks are critical to controlling the COVID-19 spread.
He also assured that the latest measures would not hinder emergency services and examinations. He also advised caution in tuition centres.
Kerala reported 8,126 new COVID cases after 60,900 tests on Thursday.
