It’s not practical to extend lockdown indefinitely, says Kerala CM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said it is not practical to continue the lockdown indefinitely. Hence the situation has to be brought under control for which the people should not misuse relaxations. Presently, the situation is not encouraging in the state, he said.
The government is bringing in relaxations in a phased manner since it is not favouring indefinite lockdown. However, it has been widely noticed that people are misusing relaxations. While the second wave has subsided in all other states, we are still witnessing a TPR above 10%, he said.
“But it is not a cause of worry. We can bring down the cases if we all together strive for it. The state is still witnessing cases since the second wave has hit Kerala last in the country. At one stage, the TPR had touched 29% in the state. However, for the past few days, the TPR is near 10%,” said the chief minister.
The state has to bring down the TPR further. On average, the state is witnessing a caseload of 10,000 to 14,000 per day. Along with the increase in Covid cases, there is also a corresponding increase in deaths. It has to be noted that the Delta variant had been found in the state during the second wave and it has the peculiarity of rapid spreading. This is the reason for the increasing number of cases.
Since the population density is high here, it was also one of the reasons for the rapid spread. Due to the Delta variant, even those vaccinated have been infected. In some instances, reinfection has also been reported here. However, the state never witnessed massive casualties, which was due to the effective preventive and treatment mechanisms, he said.