Health worker collect swab samples for COVID-19 tests | Representational image  |  Photo Credit: IANS
Thiruvananthapuram: Amid a recent surge in COVID-19 infections, Kerala’s capital has imposed fresh restrictions. Public spaces such as cinemas, gyms and swimming pools will be shut, and for most educational institutions, classes will be moving online yet again. According to reports, social, political and religious meetings will now be allowed with several restrictions in place.
As per the new restrictions, only final year college students and those in Class 10 and 12 will be permitted to have offline classes. Attendance for weddings and funerals has been capped at 20 people in the district.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George had earlier announced the state’s intention to adopt a strategy where districts are “categorised according to the occupancy of COVID-19 patients in ICU”. Now, as cases continue to rise, the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram has been placed in the ‘C’ category following a review meeting chaired remotely by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. It is the only district presently in this category. According to reports, there are presently eight districts that fall into category B (Kollam, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Wayanad, Idukki, Palakkad, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta), while three others are under category A (Kottayam, Malappuram and Kannur).
The state health minister however insisted on Monday that the situation was completely under control. “We’re fully set to meet the challenges, have enough oxygen beds, medicines. We’re also recruiting health care workers as many health care workers are getting infected in hospitals. COVID-19 cases are increasing but hospitalization numbers are less,” George had said on Monday afternoon.
She also assured that the southern state had “enough stock of COVID-related and non-COVID medicines” as well as adequate staff in hospitals.
Kerala on Monday reported 26,514 fresh cases, pushing the active tally past 2.64 lakh – a significant dip when compared to previous days. For four consecutive days, the state had reported more than 40,000 daily COVID-19 cases even as several restrictions continue to remain in effect. According to the health ministry, the number of samples tested in the past 24 hours had been lower because the state had observed a ‘full lockdown’ on Sunday. Among the districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest number of cases today – 4,443 followed by Thiruvananthapuram 3,256 and Kozhikode 2,979 cases on Monday.