Kerala Announces Complete Lockdown On July 31 & Aug 1 Amid Rising COVID Cases
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala government has announced a complete lockdown on July 31 and August 1 as the state reported 50% of new COVID-19 cases in the country on Wednesday. The weekend lockdown order was announced a day after Kerala registered 22,056 fresh COVID-19 cases and 131 deaths.
The fresh infections raised the total caseload to 33,27,301, while the number of fatalities rose to 16,457. As of July 28, Kerala accounted for over 50 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases across the country. According to the data of the Union Health Ministry released on Thursday morning, 43,654 new cases were reported in India within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, reports state that Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to the Kerala government expressing concern over the “super spreader incidents” in Kerala recently. The Health Secretary asked the Vijayan administration to see that the COVID guidelines are properly followed across the state.
“The compliance of the guidelines for mass or social gatherings needs to be strictly enforced,” the Center reportedly said in its letter.
The Center is sending a four-member team of experts to take stock of the coronavirus situation and assist the Pinarayi Vijayan government in tackling the COVID outbreak in Kerala.
The 6-member central team for Kerala will be headed by Dr SK Singh, Director, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC). The team will reach Kerala on July 30 and will visit a few districts. The central team will work closely with state health departments and recommend necessary public health interventions for Kerala reporting a large number of COVID cases.
Kerala with an active caseload of 1.54 lakh is contributing 37.1 per cent of the total active cases in the country, with a growth rate of 1.41 in the last 7 days. On average, 17,443 cases are being reported daily in the state. The state has recorded a high positivity of 12.93 per cent cumulatively and 11.97 per cent weekly. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its release today said that six districts are reporting more than 10 per cent weekly positivity.
A serosurvey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) between June 14 and July 6 found that Madhya Pradesh has 79 per cent seroprevalence, while it was 44.4 per cent among the surveyed population in Kerala.
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