Kerala govt restricts New Year celebrations at night; issues SOPs amid Omicron scare

Kerala government on Monday directed that New Year celebrations shall not continue after 10 PM on December 31 and similar restrictions shall be in place at night from December 30 to January 2, possibly with a view to prevent any increase in COVID-19 cases due to festivities.

decision to impose restrictions at night -- from 10 PM to 5 AM -- from December 30 to January 2 was taken in a COVID review meeting presided over by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, a state government release said.

In meeting, it was decided that New Year's celebrations would not be allowed after 10 PM on December 31 and seating capacity in bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants and eateries will remain at 50 per cent, release said.

It was also decided in meeting that District Collectors will deploy sectoral magistrates with equate support from police officers in areas such as beaches, shopping malls and public parks where large crowds are likely to gar for New Year celebrations, it said. 

Besides that, areas where COVID-19 was spreing should be monitored for cluster formations, be considered as containment zones and restrictions should be tightened re, Chief Minister directed at meeting.

COVID-19 cases in Kerala

Kerala on Monday recorded 1,636 new COVID-19 cases which took caselo to 52,24,929 till date. Directions were issued by Chief Minister to Health Department to take steps to vaccinate deserving persons with booster shots from January 3 and to distribute, free of cost, to public ayurvedic or homeopathic medicines which would help to enhance ir immunity, release said.

Vijayan also directed that measures against Omicron variant be intensified in view of its numbers rising to 57 in state. Since new variant spres three to five times faster than Delta version of COVID-19, Omicron was likely to increase number of Coronavirus cases leing to a third wave, he said and ded that measures were being taken to deal with it.

Highlighting steps being taken by government to deal with a third wave, CM, in release, said that more and more medicines, beds and syringes were being procured and district Collectors have been directed to ensure that all oxygen-producing hospitals increase ir production and storage of oxygen in view of possibility of an increase in number of COVID-19 victims by end of January 2022.

district Collectors were also directed to implement more genetic sequencing tests in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts where number of Omicron patients are high, release said.