Kerala allows reopening of shops in malls from August 11 amid COVID surge

The Kerala government on Saturday ordered the reopening of shops in malls from August 11. CM Pinarayi Vijayan-led government permitted the shops to reopen on the same conditions decided for opening of other shops with all precautionary arrangements in place. 

The state government's order said, "...Designated persons shall be engaged at the entry points of the mall to ensure that all the COVID-19 protocols including masks, hand sanitizers, temperature checking, social distancing, and other conditions stipulated...for entering into shops are strictly followed."

"Special teams shall be deployed by the District Collectors to monitor the effective functioning of the Rapid Response Teams (RRTS) and to ensure that RRTs strengthen surveillance and contact tracing significantly," it further added.

The order of reopening shops comes as Kerala is reporting over 20,000 cases of COVID-19 for the past few days. Kerala on Saturday recorded 20,367 new cases of COVID-19 and 139 deaths. Kerala is contributing more than 50 percent to daily COVID tally of India. As on Friday,  the nation recorded 38,628 cases, to which Kerala's contribution was 60% at 19,948.

The positivity rate in the state stands at 13.35 percent. The death toll from COVID-19 in Kerala stands at 17,654 while the caseload is 35,13,551.