Thiruvananthapuram: With COVID-19 cases not witnessing the expected decline, the Kerala government on Tuesday decided to extend lockdown restrictions for one more week.
There will be no further relaxations in Kerala. Not until there is a significant drop in test positivity rate (TPR), Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
In fact, lockdown restrictions will be intensified in places were TPR was found to be higher than 18 per cent, Vijayan added.
Though the recent month-and-a-half long lockdown has greatly helped to curtail the TPR in the state from a worrying 29.75 per cent to above 10, there has not been much progress since relaxations were introduced.
For the past few days, the TPR has been hovering around 10. On Tuesday, it stood at 11 per cent.
What also adds to the concern is that the number of new infections have slowly outpaced the number of recoveries.
To Tuesday's 13,550 new COVID cases, only 10,283 recoveries were reported in Kerala.
The Chief Minister too admitted that the lockdown cannot go on forever.
Kerala has revised the TPR slabs to ensure that businesses and people's livelihoods are not disrupted.
The COVID curbs and relaxations will be introduced in the state on the basis of this categorization.
The new restrictions would come into effect from Thursday (July 1), Vijayan said.
The local bodies have been reclassified on the basis of the average Test Positivity Rate (TPR) for the last seven days.
Here is the revised slab:
Category A - Average TPR below 6% (Areas with low spread)
Category B - Average TPR between 6 to 12% (Areas with moderate spread)
Category C - Average TPR between 12 to 18% (Areas with high spread)
Category D - Average TPR above 18% (Areas with critical spread)
As of Tuesday, there are 165 local bodies under A division, 473 local bodies under B, 316 local bodies under C, and 80 local bodies under D.
The Chief Minister also warned that a low TPR does not mean that the threat posed by the virus is minimal.
New strains of the COVID's Delta variant, largely responsible for the devastating second wave in India, is still a cause of concern.
He urged everyone to take necessary precautions - wear masks, maintain social distance, the chief minister advised.
"The TPR is expected to decrease gradually.There are many non-infected people in Kerala as the speed of transmission was well controlled in the first wave."
Although the disease spread faster than the first wave, the state was able to contain the wave in a manner thatensured that health system did not crumble. In this scenario, it was decided that there was no need to relax the existing restrictions, the CM said.
The Chief Minister also announced a change in the funeral protocol of Covid victims allowing close relatives to pay their respects and perform limited religious rites, all within an hour.
Banks have been directed to halt the revenue recovery proceedings of those Covid victims who have defaulted on bank loans,he said.
As on June 29, 1,38,62,459 doses of vaccine have been distributed in the state. Among healthcare workers, the first dose was given to 5,36,218 people and the second to 4,26,853.
Of the other frontline workers, 5,51,272 were given the first dose and 4,29,737 the second dose.
The first dose was given to 78,12,226 people over the age of 45 and the second to 22,76,856.
Among the 18-44 years category, the first dose was given to 18,05,308 persons and the second to 23,989.
A total of 1,07,05,024 persons in the state have so far received the first dose, while 31,57,435 have received both doses.
Forty per cent of the State's population has got the first jab while 12 per cent have got both shots.
"Once the vaccine is available, it can be delivered quickly and systematically. If we get the required amount of vaccine from the central government, we will be able to achieve herd immunity within three to four months," Vijayan said.
