Kannur comes under strict lockdown enforcement

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 21 () With Kannur districtemerging as the latest hotspot for coronavirus in Kerala, thestate government has turned its attention on enforcing thelockdown norms strictly and warned of stern action, includingarrest, against those stepping out of their homesunnecessarily. The northern district with 52 COVID-19 cases had beenclassified as red zone and is under complete lockdown withthree Superintendents of Police have been vested with theresponsibility of implementing the restrictions, officialssaid.

Taking a serious view of people thronging streets andheavy rush of vehicles in some parts of the state on Monday,Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had stringent steps will betaken to follow the safety precautions to prevent the COVID-19spread. "All people must take the lockdown protocol seriouslyasthere are chances of COVID-19 infection spreading if they comeout on to the streets. Police will arrest those who ventureout into the streets unnecessarily," Inspector General ofPolice Ashok Yadav, who is in charge of Kannur district, toldmediapersons on Tuesday. He said three SPs were in charge of the lockdownarrangements in Kannur districtand Thalassery area has beencategorised as a containment zone. "Stringent steps have been taken to ensure to keep peopleinside their homes. Kannur is under the red zone," Yadav said. Another senior police official told the police hasdecided to strengthen checking in all hotspots throughout thestate.

"This is because the chief minister had yesterdayannounced that lockdown protocol will be implemented in astrict manner. Inter-district travel will not be allowed andstrict checking is in place at all the 88 hotspots which arespread across all the districts," the official said. The hotspots are completely closed with just over twoentry and exit points and police had been strictly imposingthe lockdown protocol. The state government had earlier decided to allow dine-inservices at hotels and restaurants, plying of buses in cities,private vehicles on odd-even basis, pillion riding in two-wheelers among other relaxations from Monday in green andorgange B zones, but rolled back some of them after the Centreobjected to them. A late night government order said there are 88 COVID-19hotspots, including Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi corporationareas, in the state and there would be no relaxations there. Kerala has so far reported 407 COVID-19 cases with twodeaths and the number of active cases as of Monday stood at114. RRT SSVS VS