’Cinemas, gyms shut, wedding guests capped at 20’: More curbs in Kerala capital

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 25, 2022: The Kerala government on Monday imposed more restrictions in the capital city Thiruvananthapuram in view of a rapid surge in daily Covid cases. As per the new rules, social, cultural, political, religious and public meetings will be allowed with certain restrictions.

 

A maximum of 20 people will be allowed at weddings and funerals. Cinema, theatres, swimming pools and gyms will be shut, while classes will be online for all students, except for those in the final year of college and for Classes X and XII. Tuitions will be conducted online. However, residential educational institutions are allowed to operate on a bio-bubble model.

The state government had earlier decided to impose restrictions at the district level on the basis of the number of people admitted to hospitals and authorised the Disaster Management Authority to divide the districts into three groups, A, B and C.

Thiruvananthapuram district has been included in the ‘category C’ - where there will be the highest restrictions in Kerala and is the only district in that category. Across the state, if the percentage of attendance in educational institutions is less than 40%, the institution will be considered as a cluster and will be closed for two weeks.

The new restrictions were decided upon following a Covid review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The government has also allowed one of the parents of children suffering from cerebral palsy or autism to avail the provision of work from home.

In Kerala, 83 percent of the people have been given the second dose of the vaccines and 66 percent of children between the age of 15 and 18 years have been administered Covid jabs. Kerala on Monday recorded 26,514 fresh Covid cases, taking the total affected in the state to 56,46,665.

As per the state’s earlier rules, in the districts falling under the A category, all social, cultural, religious, political and public events and weddings and funerals can be attended by up to 50 people. No such gatherings will be allowed in the B and C category districts. In such areas, religious worship should be conducted online only and a maximum of 20 people will be allowed for weddings and funerals.

Meanwhile, state health minister Veena George denied media reports that the ICUs and ventilators in the state were fully occupied and visited Thiruvananthapuram Medical College to evaluate the situation. The minister said that more than 100 ICU beds were vacant and only 28 were occupied in the medical college. She said more beds, ICUs and ventilators will start functioning in the state if the number of patients goes high in Kerala.