Covid: Ker Govt to make wearing of masks, social distancing

With the COVID-19 graphin Kerala continuing its upward trend, the LDF government onWednesday decided to impose stringent restrictions, makingwearing of masks and ensuring social distancing mandatory andincreasing testing to bring down the numbers by mid-February.

A high-level Covid evaluation meeting chaired byChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan felt that the situation would worsenif such a step was not taken, as there was a general lack ofalertness among people after relaxation of restrictions.

Kerala on Wednesday recorded 5,659 fresh cases in thelast 24 hours, pushing the total caseload to over nine lakh.

The government also said COVID guidelines should bestrictly followed while organising public functions.

It decided to utilize the services of police personnel toimplement the restrictions, along withsectoral magistrates,who are now entrusted with surveillance duties, a pressrelease from the Chief Minister's Office said.

In containment zones, the restrictions will be furtherstregthened.

The government's effort is to bring down the cases by midFebruary.

In marriages also, the guidelines should be strictlyfollowed and it should be ensured that not more than 100people attend such gatherings, the release said.

The government has also decided to conduct one lakh testsCovid tests daily, 75 per cent of which would be RT PCR.

More tests would be conducted in camps of guest workersand factories like cashew, where the employees sit closetogether while at work.

As per a study by the Community Medicine department ofthe Thiruvananthapuram Medical college hospital, 56 per centof people get infected from inside their homes.

Those coming home from outside infect family members and20 per cent of people get infected from markets, malls andrestaurants, it said.

At least 65 per cent of infected people failed to observesocial distancing norms and 45 per cent are those who do notwear masks.

While five per cent of the children get infected fromschools, 47 per cent were infected from their homes, the studypointed out.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)