6,802 Keralites reached state from other places till date
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: So far 6,802 Keralites have arrived from other states, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday. A major chunk of them arrived from Tamil Nadu (4,298), followed by 2,120 from Karnataka and 98 from Maharashtra.
“Those arriving include 576 people who lost their job, 163 children who got separated from their parents owing to lockdown, 47 who need urgent medical attention and 66 pregnant women,” said the CM.
Stressing the need for following the guidelines of the state, including the seven-day quarantine at the government centre, the CM said pregnant women and small children have been exempted from institutional quarantine. They will be asked to undergo 14-day quarantine at their houses itself. “Seven-day institutional quarantine is a must. If tested negative, they will be allowed to go home, but they have to undergo seven more days of quarantine. If tested positive, they will get admitted to hospitals. Also, two passes are needed for entering the state. The first from the district where one is boarding and the second from their native district,” added the CM.
Scene at Walayar
There was an increased flow of people through Walayar checkpost on Wednesday, the third day of the arrival of stranded Keralites from other states. Due to this, the commercial tax checkpost where the passes are checked and medical examinations are being conducted, has started functioning round-the-clock from Tuesday evening. “Another 10 counters will be opened on Thursday in a pandal,” said K O Varghese, tahsildar and executive magistrate, at the checkpost. Around 1,500 passengers arrived by evening. “Nobody has been shifted to the hospital,” said Dr Rachana Chidambaram, district programme co-ordinator of the National Health Mission.
232 enter via Aryankavu
As many as 232 persons and 95 vehicles entered the state through the Aryankavu checkpost in Kollam till 6pm on Wednesday. Of the 232 persons, 12 had not registered on the Norka website. But they were allowed to enter after digital passes were issued by the district collector.“As many as 63 of them were sent for institutional quarantine. As per the new directive issued by the district administration, those coming from the red zone areas and without registration will be sent directly to Covid Care Centres,” said tahsildar Anil Philip, the Covid-19 nodal officer at the checkpost.
393 enter via Muthanga
As many as 393 Keralites, including 284 men, 75 women and 34 children, entered Wayanad through Muthanga checkpost till evening in 161 vehicles. As many as 40 vehicles were permitted in an hour. Food and toilet facilities have been arranged at Muthanga itself. All those who came were screened by health officials. They were divided into batches of 100 each and policemen escorted them to their district borders making sure that they did not get down on the way. On Tuesday, 574 persons came through the check post in 224 vehicles.
Stranded students
The state government on Wednesday made its first move to bring back Keralite students stranded across the country by sending a letter to chief ministers of four states requesting their support. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “The plan is to first concentrate on students stuck in Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. For that, the help of the CMs has been sought.” He said 1,177 students are awaiting return. Of them, 723 are in Delhi, 348 in Punjab, 89 in Haryana and 17 in Himachal Pradesh.