All parties in Kerala agree to jointly fight Covid

Thiruvananthapuram : As the state reports sharp curve in Covid cases, the all-party meeting held here decided to jointly fight the pandemic, and ruled out a total lockdown.

Talking to media after the meeting, CM Pinarayi Vijayan said all parties had agreed to play responsible role in keeping the situation under control, and added the general consensus was that a lockdown might not help.

He urged everybody to strictly hew to Covid protocols, especially when in shops, markets, social and political events.

"If this does not happen, things will become very grave for the state. All present in the meeting agreed to this," said Vijayan.

"At present, we are fully equipped to deal with the situation" he said and added that it might lead to a difficult situation if things turned very grave and the spread went beyond calculation. "Hence, we all should ensure that Covid protocols are not violated at any cost," said Vijayan.

The Chief Minister said that at present there are 61,791 active cases in the state, while 1,24,688 people have been cured.

"In the past 24 hours, 52,755 samples were tested. Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram districts continue to register high number of cases. In recent weeks, 568 cases have been reported in the age group of less than 15 years, while 786 cases were reported in the above 65 years category," said Vijayan.

A total of 22 persons succumbed to the virus on Tuesday, taking the state's death toll to 719.

Across the state, 2,36,960 people are under observation, including 28,702 in various hospitals.

Kerala on Tuesday reported 7,354 new Covid-19 cases, the second highest single-day spike so far.

With inputs from IANS