Guwahati: Kerala on Sunday went into a one-day lockdown to slow the spread of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with only emergency services operating in the state.
In a high-level Covid review conference on Thursday, the state government determined that only essential services should be allowed on the two Sundays of January 23 and 30, respectively.
Shops selling essential items such as milk, newspapers, fish, meat, fruits and vegetables, and provisions are permitted to operate from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
However, except for people going for emergency needs and after giving proper paperwork demonstrating the nature of the emergency to the police, most private automobiles were kept off the road.
Those going to airports or pre-booked tourist locations can go after producing the relevant paperwork, including tickets, to police officers conducting vehicle checks around the state.
Only package services are permitted in hotels and medical stores; however, media outlets and telecom-Internet services are permitted to operate despite the restrictions.
It may be mentioned that Kerala recorded 45,136 additional positive cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of people infected in the state to 55,74,702.