​​​​THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A decision on the continuation of lockdown in the state will be taken today. A section of health workers demands that the existing lockdown must continue as long as the test positivity rates come under 10 per cent. They hold the opinion that withdrawal of lockdown might lead to an unprecedented rise in the number of covid cases in the state.

The covid deaths in the state have reached near 10,000. As per the government’s statistics, the total number of covid deaths in the state, as of now is 9,946. Yesterday alone, 227 persons die in the state. This is the highest number of per day deaths recorded till the pandemic’s first wave.

The evaluation meeting to be held under the leadership of the chief minister will take a final decision on the lockdown issue. The meeting which will witness the participation of the chief secretary and the health department secretary will take subsequent measures only after discussing all sides of the issue.

The meet will also discuss the proposal to give relaxations as the TPR is getting down. In the second wave, though the government was able to reduce the TPR rates from 30 to 15 per cent quickly, no major reduction has witnessed in the curve thereafter. Following this, the government has decided to continue the regulations until the day after tomorrow.

The government also considers retaining the restrictions only in those areas where the rate of transmission is higher. A decision will be taken after discussing these proposals.