With Covid cases coming down, the Kerala government has decided to start offline classes for students from Monday (February 7). The classes for 10, 11 and 12th standards and college students will begin from February 7. The classes for children from standard 1 to 9, creche and kindergarten will start from February 14, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office.
The decision was taken at the Covid review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. This comes a day after state reported dip in its daily count.
The state recorded over 42,000 cases on Thursday, which was about 10,000 less than what was reported the previous day. Active cases went down to 3,69,073 on February 3 from 3,77,823.
During the review meet, the state also decided to test the symptomatic non-resident Keralites and foreign passengers travelling to Kerala.
Decision was also taken against overcharging for rapid tests at airports and directions were issued to the health department.
The number of devotees at all religious institutions has been limited to 20. "A total of 200 persons will be allowed for Pongala at the Attukal temple. The rest of the people should offer the Pongala at their residences," the statement said.
Earlier, the government had imposed restrictions at district level based on cases in hospitals. The authority divided the districts into three groups - A, B and C. Currently, only Kollam district is in the C category, where there will be highest restrictions.
Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad and Kannur districts are in the B category.
Malappuram and Kozhikode districts are in the A category. In districts falling under A category, social, cultural, religious, political and public events and weddings and funerals can be attended by up to 50 people.
No such gatherings will be allowed in the B and C category districts. In such areas, religious worship should be conducted online only and a maximum of 20 people will be allowed for weddings and funerals. Movie theatres, swimming pools and gyms are not allowed to function in the C category districts.
Kasaragod does not fall under any such categories.
With agency inputs
