The all-party meeting held by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has decided against imposing a complete lockdown in the state. However, weekend lockdown and night curfew will continue as scheduled.
The parties agreed that a full-scale lockdown would affect Kerala’s financial condition and public life. Earlier, a Covid-19 expert committee recommended a complete lockdown in Kerala to bring the number of daily case down.
At the party, it was decided that the administration will impose sterner restrictions if daily Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Kerala. District administration can decide on the restrictions in areas having extremely high Covid-19 cases. All parties agreed that the current restrictions should continue with the weekend lockdown. They also agreed that there should be no celebrations on counting day (May 2).
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said there is no need for a lockdown in Kerala as it would cause inconvenience to the public. He said that instead of imposing a lockdown, the government must implement restrictions by defining containment zones. However, he added that the right decision of imposing curbs on Sunday.
“A complete lockdown would affect the lives of the public. We have doubts whether Kerala can afford it and the rest is up to the government. The general opinion is that there should be no complete lockdown. The government must take the public's condition into account. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with shops running until 9 pm,” he said.
With the Election Commission declaring the Kerala Assembly election results on May 2, Chennithala said that parties must avoid celebrations on counting day. “Political parties should organize events as per Covid-19 protocol only,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kerala has revised the discharge guidelines for Covid-19 patients. A covid-19 negative certificate is not required for the hospital discharge of low severity patients. The new guidelines informed that if these patients do not show symptoms for 72 hours, can be sent for home isolation. The revised guidelines also state that those in this category should be monitored at home for 17 days from the time they test positive.
Those with mild symptoms should be monitored at home for 17 days. In the meantime, the health department has directed the people to inform the department and seek treatment if they show any symptoms. The new standard also requires patients to examine themselves for any physical difficulties during the follow-up period. Patients with moderate severity may be discharged three days after the end of symptoms. They can be transferred home or to a primary or secondary treatment centre, depending on the condition.
The covid-19 negative certificate is mandatory for discharging critically ill patients only. These patients should receive antigen test on day 14 after showing symptoms. The revised guideline states that if the result is positive, it should be re-examined every 48 hours thereafter.
