Weekly infection population ratio (WIPR)-based restrictions for containing COVID-19 came into force in Kozhikode district on Thursday. Wards 34, 35, and 43 in Koyilandy municipality and 1, 26, and 32 in Mukkom municipality will have to face strict curbs as their WIPR is above 10.
Only shops selling drugs and other essential things will be allowed to remain open between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. Hotels and restaurants will have only home delivery. The wards will be barricaded and travelling will be banned. Police and secretaries of local bodies have been asked to ensure this. Residents of such wards, however, have been allowed to travel for emergency medical services and for buying essential stuff. The help of rapid response teams can be sought for emergency purposes. Vehicular traffic on public roads is banned and those who travel by national highways and State highways that passes through such wards should not stop vehicles there. Travelling is completely banned between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m., except for emergency medical needs.
Shops in other regions can function as usual between Monday and Saturday. But entry is restricted to people who have taken at least one dose of the vaccine in two weeks, or those with an RT-PCR negative certificate in 72 hours, or people who have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 a month ago. These conditions are applicable to the staff of various firms as well. There will be complete lockdown on Sundays.
Meanwhile, 2,406 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported from the district on Thursday, of which 2,383 were due to local transmission of the infection. The source of 20 others is not known. Kozhikode Corporation accounted for 415 locally acquired infections, Koduvally 93, Maniyoor 78, Kakkodi 77, Koyilandy 66, Atholi 55, and Unnikulam 53. As many as 2,386 people recovered from the infection and the active caseload is 25,598. A total of 16,535 samples were tested and the daily test positivity rate is 14.79%.
