THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government on Monday made wearing of masks and social distancing mandatory in public places, inside offices as well as while commuting as a precautionary measure in the wake of the nationwide alert against Covid.
The extraordinary gazette notification issued by principal secretary (health) Tinku Biswal on January 12, which has come into force with immediate effect, also ordered shop owners, theatre operators and organisers of public events to ensure sanitisers or soaps for the public to use for maintaining hand hygiene.
Issued under Section 4 of the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Act, 2021, the order is valid for one month. The notification said the restrictions were imposed as Covid continued to be a public health threat. However, health department officials said the notification was the extension of an already existing notification.
“Vigil against Covid will continue. The number of Covid cases in the state is very low,” said a health department official.
Kerala reported 32 new cases on January 15 (Sunday). There are around 400 active cases. As many as 104 new cases were reported across the country on Sunday and the active case-load stood at 2,149. The nationwide alert was issued following the fresh surge in Covid cases witnessed in various countries, including China and the US.