Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala will observe total lockdown on Sunday in an effort to curb the recent spike in COVID cases.

Announcing the new measure on Tuesday, the government said the restrictions will be akin to that of a triple lockdown.

The development comes after a span of two weeks wherein the State did not impose any lockdown on account of Independence Day and Onam festival.

For three consecutive days now, Kerala has reported more than 30,000 cases.

Flagged this as 'Onam' spike, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has maintained that the State was making effective interventions to combat the impending third wave of the disease.

In a strongly-worded article in the latest edition of the CPM publication 'Chintha' weekly, Vijayan dismissed the criticism from opposition parties as "unwanted" attempts to undermine the people's support towards Kerala's enduring fight against the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Veena George has claimed that the State continues to be a model for COVID containment measures in India.

This is despite the fact that Kerala now reports closer to 60 per cent of new COVID cases reported in the country.

The minister clarified that this was because the Left government never shied away from reporting the actual numbers.

“According to the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), Kerala's under-counting factor is six which is the best in the country. It is 33 nationally and in some states, the figures are as high as 100 and 120, which means only 1 in 100 or 120 actual cases are reported there,” the minister said.

The minister also pointed to how, despite the spike in cases, there still remains many vacant beds in ICUs and ventilators in government hospitals.

According to her, Kerala's test-per-million figures were the best in the country. “On Thursday, we tested 1.67 lakh tests, including RTPCR and antigen and today we have tested over 1.7 lakh samples,” the minister said.

Triple lockdown

A triple lockdown has been imposed in all the wards of Kapetta municipality and eight panchayats across Kerala on the basis of the Weekly Infection Population Ratio (WIPR) of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The eight panchayats where all their wards are under triple lockdown are Mezhuveli in Pathanamthitta district; Asamannoor, Pallarimangalam and Vengoor in Ernakulam district; Trikkalangode in Malappuram district; and Koorachundu, Kayanna, and Koodaranji in Kozhikode district. The IPR is above 8 in these areas. 

104 wards in Ernakulam

The Ernakulam district has the most number of wards under triple lockdown this week: 104 wards. It is followed by Kozhikode district: 77 wards. The Kasaragod district does not have any wards under triple lockdown. Strict curbs have been enforced in four wards of Kottayam.

In districts, where the IPR is above 14, the micro-containment zones will be increased by 50 per cent. The district administration will publish the list as per the IPR on the Covid Jagratha portal next Wednesday. 

1.81 lakh Covid patients in Kerala

Kerala is the lone state with over 1 lakh Covid patients in the country, according to the Central government.

As many as 1,81,209 people are currently undergoing treatment for Covid in Kerala. The total number of patients in the country is 3.39 lakh.

Last week, Kerala accounted for 58.4 per cent of the total Covid cases reported in the country, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has said. He also said that the state government has been informed about the changes that Kerala needs to make in Covid testing, finding primary contacts, and home quarantine. 

Meanwhile, the number of Covid deaths in the state has crossed 20,000. After 162 deaths were reported on Thursday, the total death toll rose to 20,134. As many as 30,077 Covid cases were reported in the state on Thursday after 1,66,397 samples were tested. The Test Positivity Rate (TPR) is at 18.03 per cent.