Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government is considering an extension of the lockdown as the COVID-19 numbers and test positivity rate show no signs of abating.
The final decision will be made after considering the COVID-19 figures on Friday and Saturday. The COVID figures which are at the peak now are likely to dip in a couple of days, the State Disaster Management Authority(SDMA) said in its projection report.
The Health Department and expert committee have recommended an extension of the lockdown. However, there are also suggestions that strict lockdown needs to be enforced in only areas with high TPR. A mini-lockdown may be observed in other areas as the lockdown severely affects the economically backward.
After reading out the worst ever daily numbers, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that the COVID situation in Kerala did not provide any relief. Still, he said a decision on whether to extend the lockdown or not could not be made at this point.
At the same time, he also hinted that no preparation was required to extend the lockdown. Perhaps to add some light to a grim reality, Vijayan said that the government's assessment was that the lockdown was beneficial to the state. He said five days were not enough to understand the benefits of the lockdown.
The chief minister also said the directive of Indian Council for medical research (ICMR) on shutting down districts with a test positivity rate of more than 10 percent was applicable at the national level. "So a decision has to be taken by the centre. At this moment, the state government has no information whether such a directive has been given after consultations with the Centre," Vijayan said.
Kerala recorded 43,529 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, pushing the total cases to 20,10,934. With 95 deaths being reported on Wednesday, the state's death toll has risen to 6,053. Currently, the state has 4.32 lakh active cases. This is likely to be pushed up to 6 lakh cases. The health department has issued instructions to prepare the hospital facilities for this spike.
