Considering the alarmingly rising COVID-19 cases, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has instructed to limit the number of attendees at weddings and funerals to a maximum of 50 people.

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The decision was taken post a COVID-19 review meeting chaired by the Chief Minister. Prior to this, the state government capped the number of people at marriages, funerals, social, political and cultural events. Only a maximum of 75 people were permitted in closed rooms and 150 people in open spaces.

The recently released directive does not specify details about closed rooms, open spaces or both.

In order to manage the COVID-19 crisis better, the officials have directed that reunions, ceremonies and all general social, cultural, political and community events should be conducted online, except in urgent situations.

As per the release, all COVID-19 necessary precautions, including social distancing must be followed when conducting events where physical attendance is unavoidable. If possible, public meetings should be avoided, the release stated.

According to the state government release, the Department of Health and Education has been directed to ensure that vaccination of students aged above 15 years are completed this week. Meanwhile, the departments are reviewing plans to carry out vaccination at educational institutions too.

As the Chief Minister mentioned in the meeting, Kudumbasree elections and gram sabhas can be conducted with strict Covid-19 protocols. The release further mentioned that telemedicine should be implemented, and awareness programs must be held in relation to Omicron.

Notably, Kerala recorded 6,238 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of active cases within the state stand at 34,902.