The State government has ruled out night curfew and weekend lockdown despite the rise in COVID-19 infections.
Nevertheless, a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Monday further slashed the number of persons at marriages, funerals, social and political events to a maximum of 50.
The arguably lower severity of the illness, reduced hospitalisation, high vaccination rate, surplus hospital beds, sufficient stock of medical oxygen and ventilators seemed to have influenced the government's current thinking.
Mr. Vijayan counselled the public to hold get-togethers, meetings and other group events online. He also insisted that citizens wear masks and observe the physical distance to stave off the possibility of more stringent pandemic control measures. There was no ground for complacency.
The government would complete students' vaccination above 15 years by the weekend.
Mr. Vijayan ordered Health and General Education departments to adhere to the deadline. The administration also weighed whether to take the COVID-19 vaccination drive to school and college campuses.
The government also said that elections to Kudumbashree women self-help groups and grama sabhas could go ahead as per COVID-19 protocol.
An official said the government seemed acutely aware of the economic fall out of partial lockdowns and night curfew. Hence, the administration's current thinking was to isolate infection clusters at the neighbourhood and household level and allow regular activity outside the hotspot.
The government also seemed not too keen to upset the tempo of daily life and commerce as various sectors limped back to normalcy from the economic downturn and loss of livelihood caused by the previous COVID-19 Delta variant triggered shutdown.
Movie theatres, restaurants, malls and sports complexes could function without violating the COVID-19 protocol.
If required, the district disaster management authority could deploy sectoral magistrates to enforce physical distancing and the mask mandate in public places and commercial centres. The Health department could shutter establishments if clusters develop.
Compared to neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Kerala's COVID-19 third wave mitigation strategy appeared less stringent by contrast.
The contiguous States had imposed a weekend lockdown and night curfew. They had also restricted seating capacity in restaurants and public transport.
The administration also decided to launch an awareness drive to sensitise people to the peril posed by the COVID-19 variants.
