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

The 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 the festivities. The 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 the meeting, it was decided that New Year's celebrations would not be allowed after 10 PM on December 31 and the seating capacity in bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants and eateries will remain at 50 per cent, the release said. It was also decided in the meeting that District Collectors will deploy sectoral magistrates with adequate support from police officers in areas such as beaches, shopping malls and public parks where large crowds are likely to gather for the New Year celebrations, it said. Besides that, areas where COVID-19 was spreading should be monitored for cluster formations, be considered as containment zones and restrictions should be tightened there, the Chief Minister directed at the meeting. COVID-19 cases in Kerala Kerala on Monday recorded 1,636 new COVID-19 cases which took the caseload to 52,24,929 till date. Directions were issued by the Chief Minister to the Health Department to take steps to vaccinate the deserving persons with booster shots from January 3 and to distribute, free of cost, to the public the ayurvedic or homeopathic medicines which would help to enhance their immunity, the release said. Vijayan also directed that measures against the Omicron variant be intensified in view of its numbers rising to 57 in the state. Since the new variant spreads three to five times faster than the Delta version of COVID-19, Omicron was likely to increase the number of Coronavirus cases leading to a third wave, he said and added that measures were being taken to deal with it. Highlighting the steps being taken by the government to deal with a third wave, the CM, in the 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 their production and storage of oxygen in view of the possibility of an increase in the number of COVID-19 victims by the end of January 2022. The district Collectors were also directed to implement more genetic sequencing tests in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts where the number of Omicron patients are high, the release said.

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

Kerala govt on Monday directed that New Year celebrations shall not continue after 10 PM on Dec 31 along with similar restrictions at night till January 2.

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