Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said Kerala would not immediately ease COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
Addressing media after a videoconference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers of other States, Mr. Vijayan said the meeting felt there should be no ground for complacency in the fight against the epidemic. The country could ill-afford to let its guard down. Social distancing norms would remain in place. So would the regulations on the coming and going of people in public places. The ban on air, sea and road travel and inter-State and inter-district journeys would continue.
Mr. Vijayan said the Prime Minister listened to what the Chief Minister had to state. “The Prime Minister said the next three or four weeks are very crucial in the fight against the epidemic. He said it was too early for the country to return to pre-COVID-19 levels of normalcy,” he said.
He said Kerala was particularly vulnerable to a possible resurgence of the infection given its high density of population. Moreover, it anticipated an influx of Malayali diaspora when the global lockdown ended. The Centre would finalise its strategy soon. It would give individual States the latitude to execute their region-specific withdrawal plans.
