Kerala to review night curfew, lockdown on Tuesday

The night curfew and Sunday lockdown in Kerala will continue for the time being but will be subjected to a review on Tuesday since it appears that it will have to live with the virus for an extended period even if it were to vaccine the entire population, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Saturday.

The decision on the review was taken at a meeting of officials held here, the Chief Minister told newspersons. It considered a series of recommendations put forward during brainstorming sessions held earlier this week with Covid-19 experts and officials of local self-government bodies.

New campaign launched

The Chief Minister also released a logo for a new Covid defence campaign titled ‘Be the Warrior’ that gives ‘a clarion call for all to partake in the effort since self-defence is the best defence.’ Experts have appreciated the state’s containment strategy, but any sense of complacency here is misplaced.

Test positivity rate (TPR) dipped further to 17.54 per cent (17.91 per cent on Friday) when 29,682 new cases were reported in the state on tested samples base of 1,69,237 (1,63,691). The number of deaths compiled on Saturday, including some from the backlog read at 142 (131) and cumulatively at 21,422.

Districts with high numbers

Thrissur (3,474); Ernakulam (3,456) and Malappuram (3,166) led the table with highest reported cases of above 3,000 in districts. They were followed by Kozhikode (2,950); Palakkad (2,751); Kollam (2,381); Thiruvananthapuram (2,314); and Kottayam (2,080) with above 2,000 cases on Saturday.

The Chief Minister, however, recalled the consensus view of experts during the brainstorming session suggesting that the state need not worry over the numbers since hospital admissions are still under control. The focus is on ramping up the achieving time-bound milestones in vaccination.

10 lakh doses arriving

The state had run into crippling vaccine shortage by the weekend, but the situation may have been reversed with the announcement from the Centre that a consignment of close to 10 lakh doses is arriving soon. The Chief Minister recalled that the Centre has been helpful with its vaccine rollout here.

The post-Onam surge in cases has not crossed the daily new cases number cross the 33,000-mark so far and is not as bad as expected. In fact, the percentage of hospitalisation has come down week on week for some time now. Breakthrough cases are being reported, but they are mild/moderate at best.

Another relief is that deaths among the vaccinated are very few. Deaths have been highest among the elderly and comorbid persons. So, they need to present themselves for vaccination without fail. The Chief Minister also referred to vaccine hesitancy among the elderly, which is not a good augury.

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