Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 5 (IANS): As the Kerala government came out with a fresh set of relaxed lockdown norms on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the state registered 22,414 new Covid cases after 1,97,092 samples were sent for testing in the past 24 hours.
On Tuesday, 23,676 people had turned positive.
Vijayan, in a statement, said that there were 1,76,048 active cases after another 19,478 people turned negative.
The day's test positivity rate was 11.37, against Tuesday's 11.87 per cent.
On Wednesday, there were another 108 Covid deaths, taking the death toll to 17,211.
State Health Minister Veena George had, earlier in the day, informed the Assembly that the state, with effect from Wednesday, will see special intensified stringent lockdown being enforced in the local bodies with critical spread based on the Weekly Infection Population Ratio (WIPR).
WIPR is the total number of Covid-19 infections reported in the week multiplied by 1,000 and divided by total population of the panchayat or urban ward. In panchayats/urban wards with WIPR of more than 10, special intensified stringent restrictions shall be imposed. District Disaster Management authorities shall publish this list every Wednesday with data from Covid-19 Jagratha portal and disseminate information accordingly.
Consequent to the eased lockdown norms, shops, markets, banks, offices, financial institutions, factories, industrial establishments, open tourist spaces and other establishments can function from Monday to Saturday.
However, all shops, tourism centres, and other establishments should display the status of vaccination of employees and the number of customers permitted at a time. It shall be the responsibility of the owner of such establishments to avoid crowding inside and outside the shop. Enforcement agencies will conduct checks and take action to ensure this.
All establishments in the public sector, including government offices, PSUs, companies, autonomous organisations, and commissions will also function from Monday to Friday.
It was also informed that persons who have taken at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine two weeks prior, or who are in possession of RT-PCR negative certificate taken 72 hours before, or were Covid positive results over a month ago, will be allowed inside shops, markets, banks, public and private offices, financial institutions, factories, industrial establishments, open tourist spaces, and other establishments.