Kerala schools to start offline classes for students from February 7

This decision was taken in the Covid review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. This comes a day after the state reported a drop in its daily count.

The state recorded over 42,000 cases on Thursday, nearly 10,000 less than the previous day. Active cases decreased to 3,69,073 from 3,77,823 on February 3.

During the review meeting, the state also decided to test non-resident Keralites and foreign travelers who have traveled to Kerala.

A decision was also taken against charging more for rapid tests at airports and instructions were issued to the health department.

The number of devotees in all religious institutions has been limited to 20. “A total of 200 people will be allowed for Pongala at Attukal temple. The rest should offer Pongala at their residence,” the statement said.

Earlier, the government had imposed restrictions at the district level on a case-by-case basis in hospitals. The authority divided the districts into three groups – A, B and C. Currently, only Kollam district is in category C, which will have the highest number of restrictions.

Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad and Kannur districts are in category B.

Malappuram and Kozhikode districts are in category A. In districts that fall under category A, up to 50 people can attend social, cultural, religious, political and public events and weddings and funerals.

Such gathering will not be allowed in B and C category districts. Religious worship in such areas should be done online and a maximum of 20 people would be allowed for weddings and funerals. Movie theatres, swimming pools and gyms are not allowed to function in C-category districts.

Kasaragod does not fall under any such category.

with agency input