Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has appealed to all candidates participating in the local body elections and who have actively begun their campaigning to maintain utmost caution and observe all COVID-19 protocols so that there are minimal chances of an increased COVID-19 transmission in the State post elections.
At a media briefing here on Monday, he reminded candidates to desist from shaking hands with people, hugging and other such physical gestures, especially meeting the elderly, as they would be going to different houses in a single day, heightening the risk of possible disease transmission.
Rallies and road shows which encourage crowding and close mingling between people should be avoided at all costs.
However, public meetings may be held, maintaining the restrictions in the number of people that can gather and ensuring physical distancing, he said. All directives issued by the Election Commission with regard to campaigning during COVID-19 times should be followed
Mr. Vijayan said that while the State’s COVID-19 case graph was indeed beginning to show a dip and the number of new cases had begun to decrease, any laxity in the current vigil can easily cause the case graph to spike again, as has happened in the U.S. and Europe.
He claimed that the strategies adopted by the State till date for disease containment and control has been right on track. Weekly averages in new cases and recoveries show that the case graph is beginning to dip in the State. The active case pool in the State, which had 97,417 patients at the peak, has come down to 70,000 and there was also a reduction in the number of critically ill patients, he claimed.
