Kerala bans mass gatherings ahead of festive season

Thiruvananthapuram, August 11: Ahead of the Hindu festive seasons, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led- Kerala government banned mass gatherings in the state. The order will come into effect from August 12.

 

"No public observation of festivals or mass gatherings will be permitted in the state during Onam, Muharram, Janmashtami, Ganesh Chathurthi, and Durga Pooja as they have the potential to become super-spreaders of the COVID-19 infection," the Kerala government said on Tuesday.

The decision was taken by the Disaster Management department of Kerala in view of a Central government alert to all states about the possibility of mass gatherings during these festivals turning into super-spreaders of COVID-19 leading to a spike in infections, an order, issued by Chief Secretary V P Joy, said.

 

Explaining its decison, the Kerala government said that it took the decision after citing the central government's advice.

 

 

It should be noted that Kerala is witnessing a surge of COVID cases since it lifted the lockdown due to Bakrid. Kerala lifted the lockdown even after reciving the warning from the IMA. Kerala has recorded 21,119 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of cumulative cases to 35,86,693. 

 

Besides that from August 12 onwards, special intensified stringent lockdown restrictions will be enforced in the Panchayats or urban wards where the infection spread is critical and the Weekly Infection Population Ratio (WIPR) is above 8.

"Micro-containment and testing shall be intensified in areas where new cases are on the rise," the order said.

 

It further said that for Sabarimala pilgrimage and 'darshan' from August 15, a maximum of 15,000 devotees per day would be permitted and virtual queue registration will continue for crowd management.

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