Thiruvananthapuram: In the wake of rising cases of coronavirus, the Kerala government on Friday extended full lockdown in the state from May 16 till May 23. An announcement to this effect was made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The chief minister, however, allowed the essential services to function as usual. “The positivity rate remains high, so the state government has decided to extend the present complete lockdown in Kerala till May 23,” Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement. The chief minister has also imposed a triple lockdown in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Malappuram where the test positivity rate is high.

On May 6, the Kerala government had imposed a complete lockdown in the state from May 8 to 16. Issuing an order, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had allowed essential services in the state during this lockdown period.

Earlier, CM Pinarayi Vijayan had said that a decision on extension of lockdown would be taken after assessing the situation by the weekend. However, it was learnt that the administrative machinery was gearing up for continued restrictions.

Here’s full list of restrictions during the lockdown period:

  1. Shops dealing with groceries, fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat and fish products will be allowed to remain open.
  2. Not more than 20 people will be allowed in marriage functions.
  3. Funerals will be allowed to be attended by 20 persons only.
  4. Use of taxis and auto-rickshaws and cab services including Uber, Ola will be permitted only to procure essential commodities.
  5. All shops shall be closed by 7:30 PM.
  6. Banks, insurance and financial services from 10 AM to 1 PM only for the public with minimal staff up to 2 PM.
  7. Cable service, DTH, telecommunications, internet services, broadcasting and cable services, IT and IT-enabled services
  8. Petrol pumps, LPG, petroleum and gas retail and storage outlets will be allowed to open.
  9. All educational, training, research, coaching institutions shall remain closed.
  10. All places of worship shall be closed for the public. All social /political/ sports/entertainment academic/ cultural/ religious gatherings will remain shut.

The development comes at a time when Kerala on Thursday logged 39,955 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the overall tally to 20,20,834, while 97 deaths pushed the toll to 6,150. As many as 33,733 people were cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries to 16,05,471.

A total of 4,38,913 people are currently being treated for virus infection, according to a government press release. In the last 24 hours, 1,39,656 samples were tested and the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) was 28.61 per cent.

Malappuram district accounted for the highest number of cases today–5,044, followed by Ernakulam 5,026 and Thiruvananthapuram 4,050. Four districts reported over 3,000 cases.