T

he Kerala government on Thursday announced a complete lockdown from May 8 to May 16 amid a Covid surge in the state. The announcement was made as the state reported 41,953 cases taking the total number of cases to 17,43,932. The CMO tweeted on Thursday the state will be placed under lockdown from 6 am on Saturday.

Kerala is already under partial lockdown and has been taking strict measures since the second wave hit the state. However, Kerala has the third highest number of cases in the country. The test positivity rate was recorded 25.69 percent on Wednesday. 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had recently written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to advise the External Affairs Ministry to allot 1,000 MT of imported liquid medical oxygen to the state. The state is witnessing heavy daily demand of oxygen due to which it is depleting at a faster rate.