Weddings, funerals increasing Covid-19 case load in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: With weddings and funerals turning out to be Covid-19 spreaders in some places, the Kerala government on Tuesday said a maximum of 20 people would only be allowed to participate in these events.

“Taking a serious view of over 70 people being infected after attending a marriage and a funeral in Kozhikode and Wayanaad districts recently, the government has decided to restrict the number of those attending such events,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

“Hereafter, only 20 people can participate in marriages and funerals, he told reporters here. Earlier, the cap on attendees at marriages and funerals was 50. In Chekkiad panchayat in Kozhikode, more than 30 people who had participated in a wedding of a doctor onJuly9 tested positive later,” Vijayan said.

The groom was among those who had tested positive. Vadakara MP, K Muraleedharan, had also attended the previous day’s function and was asked by the Kozhikode Collector to go on quarantine.

“In Wayanad’s Thavinhal panchayat, eight members of a family, who had participated in a funeral, were found positive for the virus on July 19. Following this, authorities tested 210 other people who came in contact with them, and totally 43 were found infected, the chief minister said. The tests are continuing and would be held on Wednesday also,” district health department sources told PTI.

The panchayat has been declared as a containment zone. Vijayan also said three health workers of Kozhikode Medical College Hospital tested positive following which it has been decided to test all workers.

Noting that 12 migrant workers who had returned to the state were found infected in Kozhikode district, he said that those coming back should give their details to the district labor officer.

Instructions had been issued in this regard.