Offline classes will begin in Kerala on February 7

Kerala's state government decided to begin offline classes on Friday, February 7, after COVID-19 cases in the state have started declining over the past few days.

According to a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office "The classes for 10, 11 and 12th standards and college students will begin from February 7. The classes for children from standard 1 to 9, creche and kindergarten will start from February 14."

CM Pinarayi Vijayan chaired the COVID-19 evaluation meeting at which the decision was made.

Kerala recorded 42,677 new infections as of Thursday, raising the total COVID-19 cases to 61,72,432.

There were 52,199 COVID-19 cases reported in Kerala on Wednesday, and the number of active cases dropped to 3,69,073 from 3,77,823 on February 3.

During the evaluation meeting, it was decided to only test foreign passengers travelling to Kerala who have symptoms.

Furthermore, the meeting directed the health department not to overcharge for rapid tests at airports. In addition, there was a limit of 20 devotees at religious institutions.

"A total of 200 persons will be allowed for Pongala at the Attukal temple. The rest of the people should offer the Pongala at their residences," the release stated. According to the release, the health department has vaccinated 72 per cent of children ages 15-18, and the second dose has been given to 85 per cent of the population.

As part of the initial restrictions imposed by the government on districts, the Disaster Management Authority was authorized to divide the districts into three categories, A, B, and C, based on the number of COVID cases admitted to hospitals. As of now, only Kollam district is in the C category, where the most restrictions apply.

Among the districts in the B category are Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad, and Kannur, while Malappuram and Kozhikode are in the A category. Meanwhile, Kasaragod falls into none of these categories.

Up to 50 people can attend social, cultural, religious, political, public events, weddings, and funerals in A-rated districts.

The B and C category districts will be prohibited from holding such gatherings and those districts will only allow religious worship online and no more than 20 people will be allowed at weddings and funerals. In C category districts, movie theatres, swimming pools, and gyms are not permitted.