With Ernakulam being identified as one of the COVID-19 hotspots, District Collector S. Suhas has said that stringent measures after the lifting of the nationwide lockdown could be similar to the ones imposed during the partial lockdown in the district before the start of the 21-day period.
He said instructions regarding the measures were yet to reach his office. “It could depend on the kind of situation the next 10 days present,” he added.
The movement of essential services would be on and there would be strict watch over crowding of people. It could mean that cinemas and malls would remain closed in the district.
Sources in the district administration said the government would take precautions anticipating a movement of migrant labourers back home.
Community kitchens could be strained if they continued for a longer period, said an official in the district administration. Practical solutions to get economic activity going would be adopted in small measures, said the official.
Officials said most cases in Ernakulam were a result of it being a major air transit point. About half of the patients at the medical college hospital in the district are either foreign nationals or people from other districts.