The government has decided to tighten COVID-19 control measures in the community and to deploy more police force to tackle violations of protocols.
From Friday till February 10, 25,000 police personnel would be additionally deployed across the State at public places, shopping malls and markets to ensure that people were following the rules of physical distancing and that masks were worn by everyone properly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Thursday.
Sectoral magistrates had already been given charge of COVID-19 control and they would be assisted by the police in enforcing regulations.
Public meetings and functions such as weddings should not be conducted in indoor venues as far as possible. Outdoor venues may be chosen for the same, provided people still maintain physical distancing. Mr. Pinarayi appealed to the people to avoid night-time travel and to avoid going out after 10 p.m. as far as possible.
He said that even though COVID-19 cases were on the increase, the public health system was still very much in control of things. Disease transmission had not grown to an extent that the health system got overwhelmed. The government was functioning in a very transparent manner as far as COVID-related matters were concerned, he said.
He said that as per the official data, only less than 3% of the State’s population have been infected by COVID-19. Given the nature of the pandemic, it was but natural that wherever there were susceptible people, disease transmission would go up, he said. Only the data from the new seroprevalence study will reveal the actual extent of disease transmission, Mr. Vijayan said.
The government has decide to increase tests and to conduct more RT-PCR tests in the community to detect infectious persons. The Health Department has launched a campaign, “Back to Basics” to encourage people to go back to the initial days when people were more conscious about COVID-19 and were willing to follow all restrictions.
People should test themselves for COVID-19 if at all they develop symptoms of fever or respiratory illness and cooperate with the authorities for follow-up measures, Mr. Vijayan said.
