Kerala relaxes COVID lockdown restrictions due to Bakrid, clothing, jewellery shops to open till 8 pm

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New Delhi: The Kerala government has decided to ease the COVID lockdown restrictions on July 18, 19 and 20 in view of Bakrid which falls on July 21. The state government said July 18-20 will see fewer restrictions allowing shops including textile, footwear, electronic, fancy and jewellery to remain open till 8 pm. 

As per the government notification, this is applicable to A, B and C category local self government bodies.

The LSG bodies have been reclassified on the basis of the average (Test Positivity Rate (TPR) for the last seven days. 'A' category includes those LSGs with TPR less than 6 per cent while B category have LSGs with 6-12 per cent TPR. 'C' category will have LSGs with 12-18 per cent TPR and D category includes LSGs with TPR more than 18 per cent. Speaking of COVID-19 situation, the southern state logged at least 13,750 new cases of infection and 130 deaths on Friday (July 16), taking the infection count to 31,30,833 and the death toll to 15,155. State health  minister Veena George said 1,30,390 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 10.55 per cent.

Among the districts, Kozhikode reported the highest number of cases--1,782, followed by Malappuram 1,763 and Thrissur 1,558.

"Out of those found infected on Friday, 63 reached the state from outside while 12,884 contracted the disease from their contact.The source of infection of 725 are yet to be traced and 78 health workers are also among the infected," the minister said in a release.