Kerala declared a complete lockdown from May 8 to 16 in the wake of the COVID-19 second wave. A message from Chief Minister-designate Pinarayi Vijayan’s office on Thursday  said that the lockdown will be in effect from 6 am on May 8 to May 16. A detailed order is expected soon.

Earlier, the state had opted for district-wise lockdown depending on the caseload of each district and announced stricter curbs from May 4 to 9. The COVID-19 caseload in the state has been spiraling with the test positivity rate at 27%. On Wednesday the state recorded 41,953 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day number reported in the state so far.

While speaking to the media on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that the state was going through a very serious situation and that the TPR is not reducing either. On Wednesday the state also reported 58 COVID-19 deaths.

At present, there are 3,75,568 patients undergoing treatment for the disease at various districts. The state has reported a shortage of ICU beds and ventilator beds. The Chief Minister has said that there are 2,857 ICU beds in government hospitals across Kerala. "Of this, 996 beds are being used for the treatment of COVID patients and 185 for non-Covid patients. This means a total of about 27.3% are currently in use," the CM said.

As per the curbs imposed earlier, only neighbourhood shops dealing with medicines, newspapers, food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, meat, fish and toddy were allowed to function.