Kozhikode, Aug 4 : The business community of Kerala heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday as the state government announced easing of restrictions from August 5 permitting all shops and establishments, barring those in micro containment areas, to operate.
Apart from the near-total shutdown of most businesses and income-earning activities, the government has been facing severe criticism from many quarters on police atrocities and unjustifiable penalties as part of the lockdown.
The Covid-19 positive cases hovered around 20,000 with the TPR ranging between 10 and 20. It was rather surprising that the more the restrictions were imposed, the more was the spread of the virus in many parts of the state.
The weekend lockdowns and week-day restrictions pushed several to brink of bankruptcy. Businesses were severely impacted and livelihood of daily earners hit. Many jobs were at stake and majority of the shops were closed for six days a week resulting in over crowding on Fridays.
Several industries and establishments suffered huge losses despite the measures being imposed under the guidance of health experts. Instead of restrictions and containments helping the state improve, it led to criticism and agitation from the business community and daily-earners.
The Kozhikode-based Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi (VVES) led from the front and at times locked horns with the police against the continuing lockdown. The agitations forced the Government to allow the merchants to open their shops for three days during the recent Bakrid celebrations.
Now with the Onam season in mid-August, the KVVES has announced to open all the shops from August 9.
Thanks to the mounting pressure from the business community, and recommendations of the Indian Medical Association, the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association besides many other stake-holders whose voices matter, the Government has decided to ease the stringent restrictions and weekend lockdown from August 5.
With the contaminants and restrictions based on the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) being replaced by a new norm based on the number of virus-infected patients, restrictions would be limited in areas which will be classified as micro-containment zones.
It would rather be a kind of live-with-Covid-19 situation from tomorrow, thanks to the assessment by the scientific community that almost half of the state’s population has acquired herd immunity with either inoculation or through contracting the virus infection.
State Health Minister Veena George’s announcement in the Assembly today that the re-infection of Covid in vaccinated people is very low and that the spread has been considerably reduced came as music to the people’s ears.
