Thiruvananthapuram: In the backdrop of the surge in COVID-19 infections, Kerala has enforced a total lockdown in the state on Sunday, August 29. According to the government, the restrictions in place on the day will be akin to that of a triple lockdown.

Only emergency services will be allowed on Sundays. Shops selling essential commodities can open. In religious centres, a maximum of 40 people will be allowed entry.

KSRTC buses will ply only for taking frontline COVID-19 volunteers. Private buses will be off the roads.

However, there will be no change in the Devaswom Board Recruitment exams scheduled for Sunday.

Night curfew

From Monday onwards, the state will enforce a night curfew from 10 from 10pm to 6am.

A detailed dossier on the night curfew will be issued by Sunday evening. Apart from goods carrying essential commodities, only vehicles used for emergency hospital journeys will be allowed at night.

The nearest kin of the deceased persons can travel to attend funerals. Those who return after a long distance journey will have to show their travel documents. Others will have to take passes from the police station.

The review meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, also decided to enforce lockdown in zones where weekly patient rate is above 7. Earlier, the lockdown was enforced in areas where the rate was above 8. The rate is calculated on the basis of population.

A meeting of health experts will be held on Monday to formulate a new strategy for containing the spread of the pandemic. Virologists and doctors specialised in Covid treatment from government medical colleges and private hospitals will attend the meeting.

A meeting of the local body presidents and secretaries will be held on September 3. The Revenue and Local Administration Ministers will attend the meeting along with the Health Minister.

Practical classes will be allowed for only those who have to write the upcoming ITI examinations.

Onam spike

Kerala's daily COVID-19 figures stayed above 30,000 for the fourth day in a row.

The State has accounted for nearly 60% of the new cases in India in the past week and more than half of the country's total active cases.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs said recently that they had asked Kerala to "explore the possibility of placing night curfew in areas of high positivity".

The CM said during his COVID-19 evening briefing that there had been a spike in infections in the state following Onam.

The state had relaxed its lockdown restrictions two weeks ago on account of Independence Day and the festival of Onam.

Kerala's Test Positivity Rate (TPR) is currently at 18.67% after recording 31,265 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday.

Under the Weekly Infection Population Ratio (WIPR) categorization, there are 353 wards in 70 local bodies across Kerala where the WIPR is above 8. Strict Covid restrictions are being implemented in these regions.

IPS officers to monitor containment measures

Senior IPS officers will coordinate the containment measures at the district-level. Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) will be given the charge of the district-level nodal officer. The Additional SP will visit different places and review the measures taken to control the spread of the pandemic.

The station house officer (SHO) in each police station will call a meeting of resident associations and shop owners coming under the police station limit to discuss COVID-19 containment measures. The cooperation of the residents associations is sought to ensure that those who have not taken vaccination should restrict their travel plans only for emergency purposes.

The Chief Minister also directed the officials to review the progress of administration of vaccines and to solve if there are any shortcomings in delivering it on time.