Thiruvananthapuram: In the wake of rising cases of coronavirus, the Kerala government on Thursday imposed a complete lockdown in the state from May 8 to 16. Issuing an order, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan allowed essential services in the state during this lockdown period.

Earlier, Chief Minister Vijayan had said in view of the rise in the cases, more stringent measures will have to be taken to curb the surge in the state where severe lockdown-like restrictions were already in force.

The development comes at a time when Kerala on Wednesday reported 41,953 new COVID-19 cases, while 23,106 people were cured of the infection, pushing the caseload to 17,43,932 and recoveries to 13.62 lakh. The toll mounted to 5,565 with 58 more deaths.

As per updates, the active cases now stood at 3,75,658, while the test positivity rate (TPR) was 25.69.

Ernakulam district topped with 6,558 new cases followed by Kozhikode (5,180), Malappuram (4,166), Thrissur (3,731), Thiruvananthapuram (3,727) and Kottayam (3,432).

On Wednesday, the Kerala government decided to strengthen the anti-COVID measures by deploying medical students and government officials to tackle the situation on the ground.

“The State is going through a very serious situation and COVID is spreading rapidly. All figures are increasing and the test positivity rate is not reducing either. In these circumstances, we need to strengthen the restrictions,” Vijayan said.

The Chief Minister said steps will be taken to convert lodges and hostels as Covid First Line Treatment Centres (CFLTCs).

Besides state government agencies like Consumerfed and Supplyco, political parties, NGOs, Overseas Malayalee Associations registered abroad and private agencies will be allowed to function as relief agencies.