Kerala extends lockdown till 30th May, triple lockdown in Malappuram

Thiruvananthapuram: In the wake of COVID-19 continuing to spread and claim lives, the Kerala government on Friday extended the statewide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus till May 30.

However, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that the government has decided to lift the 'triple lockdown' imposed in three districts, except Malappuram as daily Covid cases are coming down.

"The triple lockdown in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Thrissur will be withdrawn from tomorrow as the test positivity rate and active caseload have come down. Triple lockdown in Malappuram will continue," said Vijayan in a press meet on May 21.

He said the day saw 29,673 people turn positive after 1,33,558 samples were sent for testing in the past 24 hours.

"But the state will be under lockdown and all the earlier norms will have to be followed till May 30. What we have come to find out is that the number of dead is increasing... it touched 142 on Friday. It is reported that the death rate can be high. It was on May 2, the state recorded the highest ever positive tally of 43,529 cases and it has been found out that the period of 2 to 6 weeks after turning positive is crucial and hence Kerala will have to be on a high alert for the next three weeks. All hospitals have been asked to reassess their ventilator and oxygen supplies," he said.

Presently, there are 3,06,346 active cases in the state while 41,032 people turned negative, taking the total cured to 19,79,919.

Vijayan pointed out that the average test positivity rate in the past three days has become 23.3 per cent while it was 22.22 on Friday and hence, it was decided to lift the triple lockdown in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts but Malappuram district will continue to be under the severe restriction as things are not that good there.

Vijayan also assured that the present reports of black fungus cases need not be a worrying cause as the disease was prevalent in the state even before Covid, but proper awareness on this issue will be carried out.

He also said that 50,000 doses of the new drug developed by the DRDO have been ordered besides talks with vaccine companies for procurement has also started.

The state has been under lockdown since May 8 after weekend restrictions and lockdown-like curbs imposed earlier failed to create any desired impact in terms of the daily caseload of the infected persons.