THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Stung by the surge in Covid cases, Kerala has decided to bring in more restrictions to the movement of people. The state also plans to conduct two lakh fifty thousand Covid tests over the next two days -- Friday and Saturday -- to ascertain the depth of Covid spread in the state.
A meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday has also decided to restrict the entry of people at public events.
Prior permission has to be sought for holding events like marriage, house warming and other public events where entry will be strictly restricted. The entry for indoor functions has been reduced to 75 and 150 for outdoor functions.
Another proposal that was mooted during the meeting was to restrict entry in malls to only those who have been vaccinated or with Covid negative certificates. A decision on this will only be made after further deliberations and due consideration, sources at the Chief Minister's office clarified to The New Indian Express.
Each district in the state has been given a target to ensure that the two lakh fifty thousand tests mark is met.
The state is planning to contain the spread of Covid through a three-pronged strategy -- widespread testing, more restrictions, and enhanced vaccination.
All those who had actively participated in the election campaign, frontline workers in the public transport, tourism and hospitality sectors, shops and establishments, markets etc. will be tested as part of the mass -testing programme. Mobile RT-PCR testing units will be pressed into service in areas having high test positivity.
The district administrations have been told to hold talks with religious heads to restrict the number of people in festivals and religious programmes. Extra caution has been advised at tuition centres.