It Will Be Another Muted Onam This Year In Kerala As COVID-19 Cast Shadows On The Big Festival

In the past 24 hours, Kerala recorded 21,119 new COVID-19 cases in the state, and the test positivity rate rose to around 16 per cent.

The second-worst-hit state in India due to COVID-19 has so far recorded 35,86,693 infections and accounts for more than half of all the cases reported in India in the past few weeks.

In contrast, Maharashtra, the worst-hit state saw 5,609 cases in the past 24 hours.

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This is happening at a time when Kerala is gearing up for its biggest festival - Onam, which is next week.

Under normal circumstances, the Onam festival is an occasion of get-together, fun and games.

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But since last year the COVID-19 pandemic has forced Keralites to celebrate Onam in their houses.

No gatherings for Onam

This year too, it is not looking any better as the Kerala government, which had last week relaxed the lockdown in the state has banned all gatherings, for Onam, Muharram, Janmashtami, Ganesh Chathurthi and Durga Pooja.

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The decision was taken by the Disaster Management department of Kerala in view of a Central government alert to all states about the possibility of mass gatherings during these festivals turning into super spreaders of COVID-19 leading to a spike in infections, an order, issued by Chief Secretary V P Joy, said.

The Union Health Ministry has advised all states to actively consider imposing local restrictions in public observation of these festivals and curb mass gatherings, it said.

In view of the central government advice, the Kerala government has decided that "no public observation of festivals or mass gatherings will be permitted during the above mentioned festivals in the State", a government order said.

4.6 lakh cases in next week

Earlier, a six-member central team that visited eight districts of Kerala said from August 1 to August 20, the state may witness around 4.6 lakh COVID-19 cases.

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The unlocking of activities, approaching of the Onam festival (August 20) and reopening of tourism pose challenging scenarios and it is a cause of concern, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director Dr Sujeet Singh, who headed the central team, said.

"The current Rt value of Kerala is 1.12. Going by the current trend, it is expected that for the period of August 1 to August 20, the state may witness around 4.62 lakh Covid cases," Singh said.

The central team also found that the containment strategy relied on passive surveillance and pre-structured containment zone boundaries, panchayats and the enforcement of guidelines regarding the number of people attending social and religious gatherings was lacking.

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New lockdown rules

Earlier on August 4, the state government had said that only those persons who have taken at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine before two weeks, or who are in possession of RT-PCR negative certificate taken 72 hours previously or who are in possession of COVID-19 positive results more than a month old, would be allowed inside shops, banks and other establishments.