Regulations to contain COVID-19 were tightened in Thiruvananthapuram district after at least two new patients were reported with yet unknown sources of infection.
Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation Mayor K Sreekumar warned of the possibility of community spread. "The source of infection of an auto driver and his family who tested coronavirus positive and a priest who died of coronavirus were not yet clear. Even a few cases in the city [the source of which is not known] can cause community spread,” he told the media.
Among the new regulations, he said that only 50% of the shops in the city’s Palayam and Chala markets will remain open.
The mayor added that institutional quarantine will be made compulsory for people who have returned from outside the state. He added that since the city corporation had found that in many houses in the coastal region of the district there are no facilities for home quarantine, therefore, those coming from coastal regions will also be placed in institutional quarantine.
Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran also spoke on the matter and said that in Thiruvananthapuram hospitals, visitors will be strictly limited, with only one bystander being allowed per patient. Departmental and government meetings can be held only with less than 10 members, he added.
There are also restrictions on people's representatives from attending funeral or wedding functions. Funerals can have only 20 people and weddings can be held only with 50 people, said the minister. He also warned that commercial places that don’t follow the given regulations will be closed down.
Further, those who travel by auto rickshaw in the district should note down the name, phone number of the driver along with vehicle number.
Further, at least one quarantine centre will be arranged under every local self-government body in the Thiruvananthapuram district.
69 patients are currently under treatment in the district, while 15,940 people are under quarantine.
Meanwhile COVID-19 swab tests for people who are in remand in various criminal cases will be done at Varkala Taluk hospital.