Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that from now, all shops and offices should remain closed on all Sundays. The state will observe complete shutdown on Sundays and vehicles and people will not be allowed to go out, unless for medical purposes.
Two new COVID 19 cases were reported from Kerala on Saturday while eight patients recovered. One of the newly reported cases was from Wayanad district which was in the green zone list of Central Government. It is after 32 days that a coronavirus case is being reported from Wayanad.
Though there were reports that Beverages outlets will be opened from Monday, CM ruled out any possibility. He said that there is no plan of reopening the outlets immediately.
As per the revised rules, shops in the non-red zones can be open till 7.30 pm. People in those areas are also allowed to go out if necessary until 7.30 pm. However, night travel is totally restricted in the state.
Chief Minister Pinarayi said that Keralites who have registered with Norka to return from foreign countries will be brought back based on priority list. He added that bringing all of them together is not practically possible as more than 4 lakh people have applied.
In Kerala, 500 coronavirus cases have been reported till now, but most have recovered and only 96 people are currently under treatment.
As many as 21,894 people are under quarantine presently in the state. Out of these, 21,494 are in home quarantine and 410 people in hospitals. On Saturday, 80 people were admitted to various hospitals.
As of Saturday, 31,183 samples have been sent for testing, of which 30,358 samples turned negative for coronavirus.
In addition, 2,093 samples from priority groups were sent for random testing. Among them 1,234 samples turned negative.