Complete lockdown till May 23 in Kerala, ‘triple lockdown’ in four cities: CM Pinarayi Vijayan

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New Delhi: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday (May 14) announced the extension of complete lockdown statewide in view of high COVID-19 cases.

He also ordered a “triple lockdown” in four cities - Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Malappuram – in order to check the high test positivity rate.

The state is currently under a 9-day complete shutdown from May 8 to May 16.

“The positivity rate remains high, so the state government has decided to extend the present complete lockdown in Kerala till May 23rd,” Vijayan was quoted as saying by ANI

“Triple lockdown will be imposed in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Malappuram, where the test positivity rate is high,” he added.

The chief minister informed that the state recorded 34,694 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours. During this period, 93 deaths occurred taking the cumulative toll to 6243.

“With 31,319 new recoveries, the total recoveries in the state rise to 16,36,790. A total of 1,31,375 samples were tested during the last 24 hours,” the CM said.

Vijayan on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an immediate increase in the state’s daily oxygen supply to 450 metric tonnes (MT).