The State government would impose a strict lockdown in the State from June 5 to June 9 to curb COVID-19 transmission.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told a top-level pandemic review meeting that the government would allow only essential services during the period.
The relaxation on curbs on life, mobility, retail and commerce would end at 7 p.m. on June 4.
Only shops selling essential supplies, medicine, construction material, packaging and raw material for industrial production could open for business. Stores dealing in scrap could conduct business till 7 p.m. on June 4.
Government, quasi-government, public sector institutions, corporations and various commissions would remain closed. They could open with less than 50% of the workforce from June 10.
Test certificate
People entering Kerala would require a COVID-negative certificate. The State has braced itself for a third wave. Preparations were on to meet it head-on.
As a first step, the administration would fully innoculate guest workers and other vulnerable sections of the population. The vaccination drive would focus on panchayats that share the land border with neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The government has allowed rubber tapping, replantation and waste removal.
Mr. Vijayan asked apartment management to sanitise elevators routinely. They should inform other residents and authorities of COVID-19 infections, if any, in the apartment complex. Resident associations should take the initiative.
Mr. Vijayan said the government was contemplating whether to tally COVID-19 deaths at the district level instead of the State level. He asked doctors to evolve a set of criteria to categorise pandemic-related deaths accurately.
