THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With experts pointing out that the ‘‘unscientific restrictions’’ based on test positivity rate (TPR) have not been helping in reducing the coronavirus caseload in the state, CM Pinarayi Vijayan is likely to revamp the present guidelines at a review meeting to be held on Tuesday.
The government is likely to do away with the weekend lockdowns that have been continuing for the past the three months. It was the expert committee on Covid-19 that had suggested that the lockdown strategy has been unscientific and leading to crowding at shops and establishments on the weekdays. However, the bureaucratic pressure had overshadowed the recommendations of the expert committee. Similarly, the chief secretary has written to the district collectors to focus more on micro-containment zones instead of shutting down an entire local body depending on the TPR.
According to the new strategy, only the wards with high TPR will be shut down totally instead of the entire local body. At present, LSGs which have a TPR above 15% are closed completely. The government is considering to bring this down to 10% or 12%. Despite implementing such restrictions, it has been reported that the number of LSGs with TPR above 15% has increased towards the end of July. Hence, the expert committee is of the view that instead of shutting down the shops for few days in a week, they should be allowed to open all the days to reduce crowd.
All categories of shops and establishments are likely to be allowed to function with some strict directions that the employees must go for testing once in two weeks and that the shops must be shut down for a week if one of them tests positive.
The government is also looking at ramping up the testing. At present, the state conducts 1.5 lakh tests on an average daily. The committee has suggested that it should be increased to 2-2.5 lakh a day.
It has also suggested changes in testing strategy. Right now, at several places, the focus is on testing primary contacts. Instead, more tests must be done on those outside the contact circle to identify fresh cases.
The government is also under pressure to reconsider the existing restrictions, particularly since they have not helped in bringing down the caseload in the state. The state reported more than 20,000 fresh Covid cases for the sixth day running on Sunday.
