Kerala CM urges to exercise utmost caution with delta, new virus mutant still out there
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Thiruvananthapuram; Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday appealed to everyone to exercise utmost caution and warned that a callous attitude shouldn't be shown post the easing of lockdown norms with Delta variant and its new mutant still out there.
He said that the final decision regarding the opening of religious places will be taken on Tuesday.
The chief minister added that the experts have pointed out the third wave could affect children and said that the government has made elaborate arrangements in all hospitals to ensure that proper paediatric care facilities are there.
About the daily covid toll in the state, he said that on Friday, 11,361 people turned Covid positive after 1,11,124 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and there were 1,07,682 active cases in the state.
Meanwhile, 12,147 people turned negative, taking the total cured to 26,65,354.
Vijayan also pointed out that 40 per cent of the Kerala population has been given the first dose.
He further assured that everyone will be administered with vaccine depending on the arrival of vaccines to the state.
He also asked to ensure that there is no crowding at vaccination centres.
He also pointed out that so far there were 73 cases of black fungus in the state, of which 53 still under treatment, while 15 patients died.
He then pointed out that there have been reports of people disobeying the directives of the police besides there are cases of people who are under quarantine walking out.
'Both these will not be tolerated and very strict action will be taken against the lawbreakers," said Vijayan.
Vijayan also warned of strict action against those educational institutions which are harassing students who have not paid the fees and are not allowing them to take part in online classes.
Since Thursday, there has been a graded lifting of lockdown, depending on the incidence of Covid cases in each local body in the state.
The state has been divided into four categories based on the test positivity rate and Friday, there were six local bodies with a test positivity rate of above 30 per cent.