Kerala Triple Lockdown: State government issues new guidelines amid COVID scare - What's allowed, what's not

Kerala has been reporting more than 20,000 cases every day for the past few days. Keeping that in mind the state government issued new lockdown guidelines where even small areas will be classified as micro containment zones based on the number of COVID-19 cases.

In its new guidelines, the Kerala government stated that a joint family having 10 members will also be considered as a micro containment zone, if any member tests positive for coronavirus. 

Increased containment zones 

The Kerala government told local authorities to consider any area as a containment zone where 5 out of 100 people test positive for COVID-19. Shopping malls, housing colonies, markets, flats, fish hubs, and industrial units will also be recognised as micro containment zone. 

Cinema halls will remain shut

Apart from this, CM Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government has also decided not to open the cinema halls anytime soon. Talking about the same, State Minister for Culture and Cinema, Saji Cherian said that allowing movie halls to operate is impossible at the moment as the daily positivity rate just recently touched the 15 percent mark.

According to ANI news agency, the minister said, "So with the TPR continuing to remain high we will not be able to allow permission for movie halls to open. Let us wait for the TPR to fall below 8 percent and once it does, we will decide then. We all know that the entire film industry here is struggling, but what can be done, we all have to be patient. Perhaps by December, we are expecting everything to be normal."

Meanwhile, the state of Kerala reported 20,452 new positive cases and 114 COVID-19-related deaths on Friday taking the number of cases to 3,62,090 and the death toll to 18,394.