Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 18 (IANS): Kerala Health Minister K.K.Shailaja on Saturday said that the state is reaping the rewards of the hard work that has gone in overall containment of the spread of Covid-19.

In the state the total number presently under treatment is 138 and in the past week, the number of new cases was in single digits and there are around 78,000 people under observation in the state.

She told the media that in no way, can the Kerala government relax because "things can go haywire anytime, if we are not alert, but at the same time, life has to go on, if not there will be other issues.

"It should not be like, we saved people from Covid, but people die out of hunger. So whatever relaxations are now announced to be effective after April 20, should not be an occasion to forget the alertness that we maintained. Instead the relaxation should be used to revive the economy and it should happen by keeping all the rules and regulations of maintaining social distancing," said Shailaja.

Kerala has announced that based on the prevailing performance of the 14 districts on how it has tackled Covid-19, it has been marked into 4 different zones and that would come into effect after April 20.

While Kottayam and Idukki will get the maximum relaxation. life will slowly get back to normal subject to all the national guidelines, the other 12 districts will get a scaled down relaxation.