Triple lockdown in force in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Various Central and state government offices were shut, shops and business establishments closed and public transport, including buses, were off the roads in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation limits as triple lockdown measures came into force on Monday in the backdrop of the rise in COVID-19 cases.

Chief Minister Pinarayi

Vijayan is functioning from Cliff House, his official residence. At the Secretariat, the seat of the administration housing important ministries and bureaucratic offices, only offices of the Chief Secretary, Homeand Revenue secretaries, were functioning, government sources said.

Tourism Minister Kadakkampally Surendran said as the situation was grim, stringent measures will continue in the state capital even after the week-long triple lockdown. The capital city was "sitting on an active volcano" which could burst any time, the minister had said on Sunday adding the state government had also decided to conduct more antigen tests in the district.

The triple lockdown in force from today would last for a week.

In Thiruvananthapuram Corporation limits, 100 wards are fully closed and only essential services like medical shops, banks, ATM, hospitals, media, milk booths, petrol pumps and gas agencies are functioning with minimal staff.

DCP Divya Gopinath told reporters here since 6 am today, all the wards in the Corporation and highways have been sealed, adding cases would be registered and vehicles seized if people come out of their homes unnecessarily and violators would have to undergo institutional quarantine.

The aim of the stringent triple lockdown strategy, which was successfully implemented earlier in the northern Kasaragod and Kannur districts and in some parts of Malappuram, was to keep all positive cases and their primary and secondary contacts inside their houses to prevent community spread of the virus.

Kerala's coronavirus tally has crossed the 5,000 mark. While 2,228 people are presently under treatment, over 3,000 people have recovered. The state had reported 225 fresh cases on Sunday of which 38 were infected through contact,of whom 22 are from Thiruvananthapuram.