Kerala’s capital city no longer a hotspot

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 28: With no COVID-19 positive case in Thiruvananthapuram currently, the city has been removed from the list of hotspots.

According to district officials, the capital city was listed as a hotspot and Thiruvananthapuram district as a whole was categorised as orange zone.

According to the last report, the number of total coronavirus positive cases in Kerala reached 520 following four deaths.

The new cases were from Kottayam which reported six cases, Idukki four, Palakkad, Malappuram and Kannur one case each.

Kottayam and Idukki have been included in the Red zone with positive cases rising from the two districts in the last two days, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

Earlier, relaxations announced by the Kerala state govt created some confusion and chaos by not following Centre's three-stage lockdown exit strategy.

Later, the govt abruptly withdrew some of the lockdown relaxations it had announced.

As per the relaxations proposed by the state government, people were allowed to go out in their private vehicles on odd-even number basis in the Orange B and green categories starting April 20th. There were proposals to allow barbershops to open and function. Hotels and restaurants were allowed to open and permit customers to dine at the hotel from 9 am to 7 pm.

As of now, hotels can give food packets as parcels only. Barbers can go to the customer's house to offer their service. Pillion riding was allowed in the earlier proposal but now the govt says only one person can travel by two-wheelers.

The withdrawal came after Centre writing to the state government, saying the relaxations would violate Central guidelines.