Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today announced that the lockdown in the State will be extended till May 23 as the test positivity rates are high in all the districts. “Strict restrictions will be required in places where the disease is not under control and the number of patients is increasing. To bring down the severe spread of the disease, triple lockdown will be implemented in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Malappuram districts from May 16”, the CM said while briefing the media.
Meanwhile, 34,694 new Covid-19 cases were detected in Kerala today from 1,31,375 sample tests in the last one day with a test positivity of 26.41%. At the same time, 93 deaths were confirmed as due to Covid and the death toll in the state is now 6,243. 31,319 patients have recovered from the disease today and currently, there are 4,42,194 persons under treatment for the disease in the State. Thiruvananthapuram district has the highest number of 4,567 new active cases.
Free food kit in June also
The Chief Minister today announced that the free food kits will be distributed in June 2021 also. “Prolonging the lockdown will naturally create a situation where people feel more distressed. Taking into account the experiences of the first phase, special schemes are being implemented to overcome the distress caused by the second wave. The distribution of the essential kits will continue in June.”
“During the first lockdown, the free food kit distribution programme was launched to overcome the crisis that the spread of Covid may create in the society. It was distributed to all families during and after the lockdown and about 85 lakh families have benefitted from the food kit every month. It continues this month as well. Free distribution of rice to all ration card holders was done at the lockdown stage. Rice was also distributed to non-priority sections at reduced rates. The guest workers were provided with food kits containing the items they needed. This time too, the distribution of their food kits is progressing”, he added.