Kerala to impose complete lockdown on July 24, 25, conduct mass testing on July 23

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has ordered complete lockdown in the state on July 23 and 24 and has also directed the State Health & Family Welfare Department to conduct a mass testing campaign with a target of 3 lakh tests per day.

There will be a complete lockdown on 24th and 25th July 2021 with the same guidelines as issued for 12th and 13th June 2021, the state government said.

District collectors are directed to identify and demarcate micro-containment zones in all districts, regardless of categorization of the Local Self Government Institution (LSGI) regions, and enforce special intensified stringent restrictions to bring down the new cases at the earliest.

This comes after the state government withdrew its state-wide lockdown on June 16 and gave a three-day relaxation in COVID-19 restriction for Bakrid, allowing textile shops, jewellery, footwear shops etc to open for three days from Sunday.

However, on July 19, the Supreme Court asked the state government to file a response on an application against the three-day relaxation and said it is a shocking state of affairs that the Kerala government has given in to the demand of traders in relaxing lockdown norms.

The top court also directed the state government to “heed the Right to Life” and warned it of action if the easing of curbs leads to further spread of the coronavirus.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) also wrote a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urging him to reconsider the “controversial” decision.

On Tuesday, Vijayan had declared that COVID-19 restrictions would not be relaxed in the state for the time being and said that an additional three lakh COVID tests would be conducted on Friday.

The positivity rate in Kerala continues to remain over 10 per cent and the state is reporting 10,000 to 15,000 fresh cases every day.