The tremendous resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the government to cancel individual classes for students up to class IX till January 21.
A pandemic review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked schools to switch to distance online education, up to class IX, till further orders.
After a week, the government will review the educational disruption caused by re-infection driven by the highly contagious Omron version.
If the pandemic shows no sign of ending, the government will halt the resumption of individual learning for school children up to class IX until the second week of February.
Shri Vijayan requested the Health Department to expedite the vaccination of classes 10th to 12th by expanding the vaccination drive in school premises.
The government has empowered school principals and headmasters to close their institutions for two weeks if an infection cluster develops on the campus.
The administration has ruled out weekend lockdown and night curfew for now. It has not restricted outdoor and business activities.
The government has capped attendance at weddings, funerals, social and political events to a maximum of 50 in districts that report a test positivity rate of over 20.
Nevertheless, the organizers can obtain special permission from the district administration to accommodate more than 50 people in mass events on a case to case basis.
(As of Friday, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam have the highest number of COVID-19 cases).
If the TPR exceeds 30, the district administration will ban gatherings and social events.
The government has asked shopping malls to restrict visitors. The number of customers allowed at a time in a mall, supermarket, textile or jewelery shop shall not exceed the total floor area of the establishment divided by 25.
District administrations should deploy regional magistrates to ensure businesses follow the COVID-19 protocols.
District collectors should proactively trace the COVID-19 clusters and decongest the hotspots. The health department should share the COVID-19 data on a real-time basis with the state police, revenue and local self-government through the e-Jagruti portal.
The administration started work from home facility for pregnant government employees.
Mr Vijayan advised the public to organize social gatherings, meetings and other group events online.
He also emphasized that citizens should wear masks and observe physical distancing to remove the possibility of more stringent epidemic control measures. There was no basis for happiness.
Shops, restaurants and other essential services should switch to online sales and home delivery.
The government advised the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to advise Sabarimala pilgrims who have booked their darshan in advance to postpone their journey until further notice.
Mr Vijayan also asked the local bodies to constitute ward level committees to lead the state’s infection mitigation measures. It requested the health department to vaccinate class 10 and class 12 students in schools.
The meeting appears to have based its decisions on the reduced severity of the disease and the reduction in hospitalization and mortality.
High vaccination rates, adequate stocks of supplemental oxygen and ventilators, and surplus hospital beds had prevented the government from imposing harsh restrictions on daily life and business.
The government also seemed to be aware of the economic fallout from the partial lockdown and night curfew. Therefore, the current thinking of the administration was to isolate the infection clusters at the neighborhood, institutional and household levels and allow regular activity outside the hotspots.
Restrictions on seating in cinemas, public transport and restaurants (not exceeding 50 per cent of the total capacity) remained in force.
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