Malappuram: Saying that the restrictions have affected their businesses, the traders and shopkeepers on Tuesday held a demonstration in Malappuram and demanded that permission to open their shops throughout the day. Part of the relaxations, the shops have been allowed to reopen in graded manner. “Online businesses should be closed. We do not have money to eat, it is difficult to pay rent of shops,” a trader told news agency ANI.
Last week, the Kerala government extended the lockdown in the state by another week and announced further relaxations.
As per the latest announcements, the areas have been classified according to the spread of the disease, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
Kerala | Traders & shopkeepers hold a demonstration in Malappuram demanding permission to open shops throughout the day.
"Online businesses should be closed. We do not have money to eat, it is difficult to pay rent of shops," a trader says. pic.twitter.com/OdNctu9Jqz
— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2021
The chief minister said that the LSG bodies have been recategorised on the basis of the average Test Positivity Rate (TPR) for the last seven days.
As per the fresh classification of the state government, there are 165 local bodies in the A category (TPR less than 6 percent), 473 in the B category (6 -12 per cent TPR), 316 in the C category (12-18 per cent TPR) and 80 in the D category (TPR more than 18 per cent).
The new restrictions are in place from July 1 in the state. As per the latest guidelines, a change in the funeral protocol of COVID victims has been announced. The close relatives are now allowed to pay their respects and perform limited religious rites, all within an hour.
Moreover, the banks have been directed to halt the revenue recovery proceedings of those COVID-19 victims who have defaulted on bank loans, the CM informed.
Kerala on Monday recorded 8,037 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the infection caseload to 29,81,721, while 102 fatalities took the toll to 13,818. As many as 11,346 people have been cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries to 28,66,806 and the number of active cases in the state was 1,00,626.
Thrissur topped in the number of cases (922), followed by Palakkad (902), Malappuram (894), Kozhikode (758), Thiruvananthapuram (744), Kollam (741), Ernakulam (713), Kannur (560) and Alappuzha (545). In the last 24 hours ending 2 PM, 80,134 samples were tested and the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) was 10.03 per cent.