Kerala eases Covid-19 curbs amid drop in cases; Sunday lockdown lifted, schools to reopen with 100% capacity

The Kerala government on Tuesday decided to ease COVID-19 restrictions and asked schools and colleges in the state to prepare for functioning in a full-fledged manner from the end of February.

The COVID-19 evaluation meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has instructed the schools to get ready by this month's end.

With active COVID-19 cases in Kerala starting to show a decline over the past few days, the state government had on Friday decided to start offline classes for students of Classes 10, 11, and 12 and college students from February 7 and classes for children studying in Classes 1 to 9, creche and kindergarten from February 14.

Currently, the classes are being conducted with 50 percent attendance. The evaluation meeting has also decided to consider increasing the number of pilgrims for the religious festivals including the Aluva Sivarathri, Attukal Pongala, and Maraman conventions.

"The evaluation meeting has instructed the health department to start a post-COVID registry to record the post-COVID symptoms and other health details. Post-COVID clinics have been opened and a state-level nodal officer has been appointed," a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office said.

Kerala reported 29,471 fresh infections on Tuesday which raised the COVID-19 caseload to 63,23,378. The southern state had reported 22,524 cases on Monday. The district-level categorisation for restrictions will continue, the release said.

The government had earlier imposed restrictions at the district level on the basis of the number of COVID-affected people admitted to hospitals and authorised the Disaster Management Authority to divide the districts into three groups -- A, B, and C.

Currently, only the Kollam district is in the C category -- where there will be the most stringent restrictions.

While Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad, and Kannur districts are in the B category, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts are in the A category. Kasaragod does not fall under any such categories.

In districts falling under A category, social, cultural, religious, political, and public events, weddings and funerals can be attended by up to 50 people. No such gatherings will be allowed in the B and C category districts. In such areas, religious worship should be conducted online only and a maximum of 20 people will be allowed for weddings and funerals.

Movie theatres, swimming pools, and gyms are not allowed to function in the C category districts.