Kerala against weekend lockdown, plans mass Covid testing in hotspots instead

A high-power committee meeting headed by chief secretary VP Joy has decided to avoid imposing a weekend lockdown in the state.

Instead, the meeting decided to hold mass testing within local body limits where the test positivity rate (TPR) is higher than the district average. All the people living in these areas will be subjected to this testing.

Though the test positivity is at an all-time high in the state, there is no need to clamp a weekend lockdown in the present situation, the meeting held here on Tuesday decided.

The meeting has also decided to hold a scientific study with the aid of genome sequencing to find out what variants have been circulating in Kerala during the second wave.

Though there has been a sharp rise in Covid cases during the second wave, the state has enough ventilator and ICU facilities to tackle the emergency situation, the meeting observed.

The state government has also put forward an ambitious target of reducing the test positivity rate in the state to 3 per cent through these mass testing exercises across the state.