Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala will be under complete lockdown on Sunday. Shops selling essential items may open from 7am to 7pm.

The lockdown restrictions for Saturday had been lifted after a review meeting last week.

Private bus services will not operate on Sunday. KSRTC will operate more services in Ernakulam na Thiruvanthapuram regions in view of the Central Armed Police Force. Bevco outlets will not open.

Worship places may open permitting 40 persons at a time by maintaining social distancing norms.

There will be no lockdown on Sunday for the next two weeks due to Independence Day and Onam.

Triple lockdown in 266 wards

Triple lockdown will be imposed in 266 wards across 52 local bodies based on Infection Population Ratio (IPR).. This is in addition to the micro containment zones.

The next IPR based list will be published by the district administration in Covid-19 Jagratha portal on Wednesday.

Regions with less than 10 in IPR will excluded from the list.

Shops in malls permitted from August 11

Shops in malls have been permitted to open from August 11 on the same conditions stipulated for other outlets and after making all precautionary arrangements, the Kerala government said on Saturday.

In an order issued by the Disaster Management department of the state, persons have to be deployed at all entry points of malls to ensure COVID-19 protocols, like wearing of masks, use of hand sanitisers, temperature checks and social distancing, and other conditions are strictly followed before people enter the shops.

To avoid crowding, all shops and other establishments have been allowed to operate from 7 am to 9 pm from August 5, the earlier order had said.

It had also asked all shops, tourism centres and other establishments to display the status of vaccination of employees and the number of customers permitted at a time.