Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said the public should brace themselves for further tightening of restrictions on travel, shopping, dining and socialising with COVID-19 cases showing a worrying rise on the third day of the second phase of the ‘unlock’ process in the State. The government has clamped down on normal life in pandemic-hit Ponnani taluk in Malappuram district. The capital, which faces the threat of local transmission, could expect more stringent controls on outdoor activities.
Mr. Vijayan announced restrictions on visitors to government offices, including the Secretariat, until further notice. He placed constraints on official meetings and urged officers to communicate through electronic means. He said government employees should promote the use of the e-file system.
The Chief Minister expressed concern over a police officer contracting the infection and said efforts are on to trace his contacts.
Targeted confinement
(An official clarified that the targeted confinement strategy aimed at tempering new flare-ups by locking down localities within a limited radius of the outbreak while allowing a semblance of normality outside the perimeter of the coronavirus cluster. The influx of expatriates has caused a surge in new cases. Only a minimal number of these is from unknown sources. Future lockdowns would be imposed in a distributed manner based on the local situation and threat of transmission. They would focus on markets, neighbourhoods, harbours, shopping malls and groups of houses, instead of a district or a taluk as a whole.)
Against ostracisation
Mr. Vijayan warned that the police would prosecute those who attempted to harm, isolate or ostracise persons in quarantine.
The police have recruited 2,364 persons, including 166 women, as law enforcement volunteers to extend their reach and help officers impose the health protocol.
The Chief Minister condemned the attack on the house of an expatriate who was in quarantine. He noted with disapproval that the family of a woman, mother of two children aged four and seven, had refused to accept her into their fold after she completed quarantine. She had arrived in the State from Bengaluru. He said such isolated acts of cruelty have brought infamy to Kerala. Humaneness, willingness to protect oneself and others from the disease, a sense of civility and readiness to advance the interest of society are weapons that would enable the State to defeat the contagion.
