THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Covid review meeting on Tuesday decided to allow schools and colleges to function as they did in the pre-Covid period from the last week of February. The decision will allow all students to attend the classes from morning till evening. Till then, the institutions will function with half the strength.
A review meeting held last week decided to reopen classes from 10, 11 and 12 and colleges from February 8 and lower classes including creches and kindergarten from February 14.
The government decision is based on the consistent decline in new Covid cases and test positivity rate in the state. The state reported 29471 new cases and a TPR of 30 per cent on Tuesday. There were 233 deaths reported on the day.
The district level restrictions based on the severity of patients in each district will continue as per the classifications made on February 4. As per these classifications, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad and Kannur are in category B. Malappuram and Kozhikode in category A. Kasaragod is not included in any of the classifications. No district is in category C, which calls for utmost focus.
The meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also decided to consider the participation of more people in various festivals. The decision was taken in view of a series of festivals scheduled to be held in February. It includes Aluva Sivarathri, Maramon Convention, Attukal Pongala and other festivals in the northern districts.
Health experts who attended the meeting asked the health department to consider starting a post Covid registry to record the health issues of people attending the post Covid clinics. The department has appointed a nodal officer to oversee the functions of post Covid clinics set up in all government hospitals and some of the private hospitals. Deputy district medical officers will oversee the functions at the district level.
The Chief Minister has taken a serious note of the absence of senior doctors on Covid duties in government hospitals including medical colleges. He asked the health department to ensure that all adhere to the government decision. Earlier, it was decided that senior doctors shall treat severely ill Covid patients. The health department later issued a statement that two senior resident doctors have been relieved of their duties for not attending Covid duties. Dr Jithin Binoy George and Dr GL Praveen faced the action following the directions of health minister Veena George.