KOCHI: In an attempt the curb the rapidly escalating COVID-19 situation in the state, the Kerala High Court on Friday ordered that starting from Saturday till Tuesday there should be no gathering or celebrations anywhere in any form in the state. The court was acting on a bunch of petitions.
This direction comes at a time when the counting of votes for the assembly elections is due to take place on Sunday. The court directed that there should be no victory celebrations at all and any violation would be dealt with strictly.
Also, Covid has been spreading like wildfire in Kerala and on Thursday 38,607 people tested positive and the number of active cases touched 2,84,086, both figures the highest ever in the state.
Acting on another petition on the pandemic, the court asked the state government to ensure that the private health sector does not fleece the patients.
Another strong intervention by the court came when it stayed last week's order of the Kollam district collector directing the state public sector and Kollam-based Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited to supply a fixed quantity of oxygen that they produce to Kollam hospitals. The court said Covid is a statewide phenomenon and there should be a centralised distribution policy. It asked the state government to step in.
Moreover, even though Covid vaccination began in the state first for health professionals in the third week of January, the initial response was poor and at that time the test positivity rate in the state had fallen into single digit.
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