May Day cheer in Kerala as no fresh case reported

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said that it was a good day for the state as no fresh positive case was reported.

May Day being a public holiday, Vijayan made the announcement through his Facebook account.

"So far 392 people have been cured of the coronavirus and 102 people are currently being treated," he posted, adding: "A total of 21,067 people are under observation at their homes while 432 others have been kept under observation at different hospitals across the state."

Currently there are 80 hotspots in the state.

In a related development, ahead of the national lockdown 2.0's end on May 3 and its extension to May 17, there was a fresh classification done by the Centre, which said post May 3, Kerala will have two districts each in green and red zones, while 10 are in the orange zone.

Ernakulam and Wayanad come in the green zone, Kannur and Kottayam are in the red zone, while the remaining 10 districts, including the state capital Thiruvananthapuram come under the orange zone.

In a letter to all the Chief Secretaries, Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary Preeti Sudan said that a district will be considered under green zone if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case since last 21 days in the district.

"I would like to highlight that this is a dynamic list. The list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to states for further follow-up action in consonance with the directions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005," she wrote.

Sudan pointed out that it was critical to ensure that necessary action for containment is taken so as to break the chain of transmission of virus is initiated in both red and orange zone districts reporting confirmed cases.

( With inputs from IANS )