Kerala lifts COVID restrictions, but asks people to keep masks on and observe social distance

More than a fortnight after Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued the advisory to all states and union territories, the Kerala government has issued an order on Thursday withdrawing all COVID containment measures imposed under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Though the police will not be able to slap penalties for COVID violations, the order states that COVID appropriate behaviour, like the wearing of masks and hand hygiene, should be observed.

Top government sources told Onmanorama that the government might introduce some form of milder punishment to enforce basic COVID-appropriate behaviour till the virus threat has fully blown over.

The restrictions have been in place for over two years, since March 20, 2020. After that, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued a series of revised and more rigorous containment guidelines in accordance with the changing nature of the pandemic.

Ajay Bhalla, in his advisory to the states, had said that in the last 24 months significant capacities had been developed for various aspects of management of the pandemic, such as diagnostics, surveillance, contact tracing, treatment, vaccination and hospital infrastructure.

He also said that the general public now had a much higher level of awareness of COVID-appropriate behaviour.

The steep fall in COVID cases across the country has motivated the lifting of restrictions.

COVID cases in Kerala

On Thursday, Kerala reported 291 new COVID cases and 323 recoveries.

With this, the number of active COVID cases in the state fell to 2,398.

A total of 15,531 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam districts reported the most cases - 73, 52 and 36 respectively.

One COVID death was confirmed on Thursday. The COVID death toll in the state is 68,264.

Here's the district-wise break-up of today's cases:

Ernakulam - 73

Thiruvananthapuram - 52

Kottayam - 36

Kozhikode - 30

Thrissur - 19

Kollam - 16

Alappuzha - 15

Pathanamthitta - 13

Idukki - 9

Malappuram - 9

Kannur - 9

Wayanad - 5

Kasaragod - 3

Palakkad - 2

Here's the district-wise break-up of today's recoveries:

Thiruvananthapuram - 39

Kollam - 8

Pathanamthitta - 23

Alappuzha - 16

Kottayam - 54

Idukki - 13

Ernakulam - 68

Thrissur - 27

Palakkad - 2

Malappuram - 12

Kozhikode - 39

Wayanad - 7

Kannur - 10

Kasaragod - 5