THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of a steady decline in Covid cases, the state government on Sunday eased restrictions and decided to allow full-scale functioning of movie theatres and bars in Kerala.
The decision to ease the restrictions was taken after assessing the situation and paying heed to the recommendation of the health department.
The practice of classifying districts has also been done away with. The state government brought in the classification of districts into A, B and C categories on January 21 this year when the test positivity rate (TPR) touched 40 per cent. During that period, the state had more than two lakh active Covid cases prompting the government to categorise the districts on the basis of the spread of the disease and the caseload on the hospitals.
Bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants and other eateries can now function till their regular closing time in full capacity. Government and private offices have been given permission to conduct meetings and training in offline mode. The government also directed the district collectors to give permission for public programmes that can be attended by a maximum of 1,500 people. However, the programmes should comply with social distancing norms.