Kerala government extends COVID-19 lockdown till May 23

The Kerala government on Friday extended the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in the state by a week to May 23. Talking to reporters, CM Vijayan also said that a triple-lockdown has been implemented in the three worst-affected districts in the state, namely, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Malappuram, where the positivity rate is high. Earlier on May 6, the state government announced an eight-day lockdown beginning May 8 and effective till May 16. This has now been extended till May 23 due to the rising number of cases.

The chief minister’s announcement came on a day when Kerala reported 34,694 new cases of Covid-19 and 93 related fatalities on the day, taking the state’s cases tally to 2,085,583 cases and death toll to 6,243, a bulletin from the state health department showed. Also, currently there are 442,194 active cases of the disease as on date, the bulletin also showed. Meanwhile, 31,319 patients recovered on the day which pushed the overall recoveries to 1,636,790. Vijayan on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an immediate increase in the state’s daily oxygen supply to 450 metric tonnes.