Total lockdown back in Kerala coastal areas

Curbs reimposed for 10 days due to community spread

Kerala on Saturday recorded 593 cases of

Covid-19 even as 204 persons recovered from the disease. Of the new cases,

364 persons contracted the disease through infection,

116 came from abroad, 90 from other states and 19 health workers also got infected.

Two deaths were reported in the state.

The highest number of positive cases was reported in Thiru-vananthapuram - 173, Kollam 53, Palakkad - 49, Ernakulam - 44, Alappuzha 42. The total cases in the state are

11,669 of which 6,416 are active cases.

At a press conference here, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that total lockdown would be enforced in coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram district for ten days from Saturday midnight. The tough measures are being taken in view of the community spread reported in coastal hamlets of Pulluvilla and Poonthura.

The entire coastal stretch has been divided into three critical containment zones with deployment of joint teams comprising officials of the police department, health, revenue and local bodies. The control rooms in these areas are functioning 24X7.

Meanwhile, two Covid hospitals each have been set up in all districts apart from one first line treatment centre in each panchayat.

The first plasma bank for treatment of Covid-19 patients has started functioning in Manjeri medical college.

Each police station has been directed to keep an oxygen cylinder to meet any emergency. As many as 5,386 persons were caught without masks while 14 were booked for violating quarantine norms.

The Chief Minister said that nearly 60 per cent of the Covid-19 patients are having no symptoms. According to experts, such patients can be treated at home with certain conditions. The suggestion will be looked into, he added.

Also, as the number of cases in Kerala are on the rise, the state government has decided to implement “cluster care” method to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, state health minister K. K. Shailaja said on Saturday.

The minister said testing, treatment and quarantining

will be strengthened inside the “clusters” in order to stop the spread of the virus beyond a particular area.

“Those in the clusters must strictly follow the health protocol including wearing of masks, social distancing, handwash, use of sanitisers etc.

We must keep in mind that the clusters are formed just before the community transmission,” Shailaja said in a release.

A cluster is formed when there is an “unexpected surge in Covid-19 cases” at a particular area or a region.

The health minister said that there are 87 clusters in the state of which 70 are active clusters and 17 contained clusters.

“Two of such clusters have reported community transmission and the people there need to cooperate with the health department to bring those regions from the cluster classification,” she said.

Contact tracing of the cluster is started based on the fact that there is at least one case where the source is unknown and more than two unrelated cases in an area.

“It can be a market, hospital, coastal area, an institution, a ward, panchayat or a tribal area.

The disease may be reported en masse in people who work or live in that particular area,” she said.