Karnataka Extends Lockdown Till June 7, Kerala Till May 30

Karnataka on Friday extended the statewide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic by two weeks till June 7 while Kerala extended the lockdown by a week till May 30. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also announced the withdrawal of “triple lockdown" measures being implemented in three districts — Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Thrissur from May 16. However, the “triple lockdown" will be continued in Malappuram district.

The daily coronavirus cases in Karnataka is witnessing a decline as the state registered 28,869 new infections, which was outnumbered by recoveries with 52,257 discharges. However the number of fatalities continued to remain high at 548, the health department said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Kerala has been witnessing a huge spike of cases and deaths during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The state has been under lockdown since May 8 after weekend restrictions and lockdown-like curbs imposed earlier failed to create any desired impact in terms of the daily caseload of the infected persons. On May 16, the lockdown was extended to May 23.

Kerala on Thursday reported 30,491 new COVID-19 cases and 128 more deaths, taking the caseload to 22,33, 904 and the toll to 6,852, the state government said. As many as 44,369 persons have been cured, pushing the total recoveries to 19,38,887, while 3,17,850 are undergoing treatment for the infection. Malappuram reported 4,746 cases, the highest, followed by Thiruvananthapuram 3,969.Ernakulam and Kollam also reported over 3,000 cases. Of the new cases, 101 are health workers, 172 had come from outside the state and 28,176 were infected through contact. (Source: News18)