Kerala has seen daily cases steadily come down from 35,000 to below 16,500 this week, and the test positivity rate has also declined from 27-28% to 12-14% during this period. However, the number of Covid fatalities is between 150 and 200 per day. Kerala has allowed all industries to function with minimal staff, on 50% capacity. It has also allowed banks to operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday till 5pm. In a move to contain and mitigate the spread, the government of Kerala has extended the ongoing lockdown in the city 4 times.
The ongoing lockdown was extended to June 9 from May 31 with some relaxations to essential services. To understand what the people of Kerala want post-June 9th in regard to extension of lockdown, LocalCircles conducted another survey that received over 1,600 responses from residents across all districts of Kerala. 67% of the respondents were men while 33% were women.
Based on the survey sample, a sizable chunk of the population, 31% is in favour of unlocking from June 9 in Kerala. The government must consider re-opening of businesses in home delivery mode only such that business disruption and consumer inconvenience be minimized.
