Kerala to curb travel of elderly and children, as coronavirus cases surge

With Covid-19 cases continuing to rise steadily in Kerala, the government has decided to discourage travel of aged people and children below 10 years and enforce reverse quarantine vigorously.

On Monday, the state reported 138 fresh cases taking the tally to 3,310, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office said.

In the last three days, the state has reported more than 100 Covid-19 cases daily. The government is worried because a large number of expatriates from Persian Gulf countries are expected in the coming days. More than 80% of recent Covid-19 cases in the state were expatriates or people who came from other states.

Out of the tally of 3,310 total cases, 1,540 people are in hospitals while 22 have died so far.

“There is no room for any complacency now. As more people return to the state, numbers will go up. We have to contain secondary infection effectively. So, we have to be more careful now,” said state health minister K K Shailaja.

She also said that in some areas social distancing was affected after lockdown norms were relaxed.

To arrest the spurt in new cases, the government has decided to enforce reverse quarantine strictly. Reserve quarantine is a system of detaching vulnerable people, aged or people with comorbidity conditions, from the rest and monitors their health condition closely.

The government has also decided to restrict the number of people to 10 in all rallies and protests after the state capital witnessed some protest rallies and dharnas in which many people participated. Police have been told to discourage travel of aged people and children below ten years. Shops and business establishments have been instructed to adhere to social distancing norms strictly, a senior health ministry official said.

Meanwhile, agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar has gone into quarantine after a senior health worker who participated in a function with him in Thrissur later tested positive. The minister said he opted for self-quarantine as a precautionary measure.