New Delhi: The Kerala government has imposed a full lockdown for this weekend that is July 24 and 25, after reviewing the COVID situation in the state. 


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During the weekend lockdown, the state government has also directed the health department officials to conduct mass COVID testing with a target of 3 lakh tests.


 However, the special focus will be on the districts where the seven-day test positivity rate (TPR) is above 10 per cent.


Apart from this, the state government has also asked district collectors to identify and demarcate micro-containment zones on a district level.


Issuing fresh order on Friday (July 23), the state government said that the prevailing category-wise system of exemptions and restrictions will continue.


No additional relaxations would be made.


There would be a full lockdown on July 24 and July 25 with the same guidelines issued during the earlier phase of lockdowns on weekends.


The present categorisation of Local Self-government Institution (LSGI) regions based on the seven-day average test positivity rate (TPR) shall continue.


Exemptions and restrictions already applicable to the respective category areas will continue.


The Health Department has also been directed to conduct a mass testing campaign on Friday.


The number of daily tests shall also be enhanced immediately to the peak testing capacity for the effective containment of the pandemic.


Giving further details, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the restrictions already in place would continue for another week as the average test positive rate was still above 10 per cent.


Earlier this week, Kerala recorded 17,481 fresh COVID-19 cases and 105 deaths, pushing the numbers to 32,05,197 and 15,617 respectively. The test positivity rate (TPR) remained close to 12 per cent for the second consecutive day with three districts of the State reporting more than 2,000 cases.


(With inputs from news agencies)


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