The police have formed special teams across the State to enforce home quarantine necessitated by the threat of COVID-19.
On Friday, they booked 52 persons in Thiruvananthapuram and one in Kasaragod for defying quarantine norms. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the public should strike a balance between the exercise of their freedoms and the social requirement to keep the pandemic at bay. They would have to temporarily forsake the freedom of assembly and right to publicly practise and profess their religion to prevent the transmission of the disease.
He urged the people to drop all plans for organising festivals or congregating for prayers for now.
The public health response to the COVID-19 crisis had inadvertently restrained many simple freedoms citizens had taken for granted. They would have to bear with the constraints till the threat receded, he said.
‘Could last for years’
However, some citizens appeared to have beguiled themselves into thinking that the threat had passed. It was reckless to gather in public. The pestilence had not passed. Public health experts had repeatedly said the scourge might linger for years until the world discovered a vaccine, he said.
Not more than five people could gather in public. He directed the police to warn businesses that caused overcrowding. The police would act in tandem with local body representatives to ensure that those in home quarantine stayed indoors. They would insulate containment localities from the rest of the State and would not allow mobility in high-risk regions.
Sunday lockdown
Mr. Vijayan said the State would observe a full lockdown on Sunday. The government had allowed only essential services, including home delivery of food, to operate. The public should remain indoors and avoid travel.
