As 225 persons were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Sunday, situation in Kerala has turned serious and grave according to the State unit of the Indian Medical Association. While 117 diagnosed with Covid-19 on Sunday were expatriates and 57 were from other parts of India, 38 who tested positive were victims of community transmission as they could not disclose how and where they got infected.
“This is really serious and we have to understand that Kerala is in the grip of community transmission,” Dr Abraham Varghese, State President of Indian Medical Association told The Pioneer.
Taking note of the changed situation in the State, the Government of Kerala on Sunday declared face mask and social distancing mandatory for one year. According to Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance 2020 notified by the Government, all persons should use facemask or face cover in all public places, workplaces, any place with public access and all kinds of vehicles. Physical distance of at least six feet between persons has to be maintained in public places and during functions.
Only 10 persons are allowed to attend social gatherings like protest marches , rallies etc and that too with prior permission from authorities. The Government has not banned any sit-ins and demonstrations in front of the Secretariat at Thiruvananthapuram, a permanent venue for agitations, but restricted the number of participants to ten in view of the pandemic.
Out of the 27 persons tested positive in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, 22 were infected through community transmission and this has made the government to go for stringent regulations. Earlier in the day, Kadakampalli Surendran, Minister for tourism who is also the CPI(M) strongman in the district said that Thiruvananthapuram has turned out to be a volcano which could erupt any time. He blamed the people for open violation of covid guidelines which ked to the spurt in the number of cases in the State.