Kerala: Don't want to risk holding assembly session when COVID-19 cases are high, says CM

In the wake of an increasing number of Coronavirus cases in the state, the Kerala Cabinet on Thursday decided to cancel the one day Assembly session slated for July 27. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that it is difficult to hold assembly sessions as MLAs will have to travel from their constituencies and many of them are above 60 years in age. A special Cabinet meeting will be held on Monday to make a decision about imposing a complete lockdown in the state.

READ | Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's tally crosses 12-lakh; Kerala mulls statewide lockdown

"MLAs have to travel to Thiruvananthapuram from their constituency to attend the session. Many of them have to come from containment zones and most of them are above 60 years," the Chief Minister said.

The chief minister further said the government's primary concern is to protect people's health."If the government conducts Assembly session and any member gets affected, what would be the situation? In the present situation, it is difficult to conduct the assembly session by observing all COVID-19 protocols," he added.

The state cabinet has further decided to recommend the governor Arif Mohammed Khan to suspend the assembly session. The assembly session was planned to pass the financial bills for 2020-21, Vijayan said.

READ | Kerala gold smuggling case: Questioning of suspended bureaucrat Sivasankar by NIA underway

COVID-19 situation in Kerala

Kerala's daily COVID-19 cases continued to witness a sharp rise with 1,078 people testing positive, a new single-day high, on Thursday as the infection count soared past 16,000 while the toll mounted to 50 with five more deaths.

This is the second consecutive day that the fresh positive cases have crossed the 1,000 mark, taking the tally to 16,110. On Wednesday, the state had logged 1038 cases, the first time it crossed four digits. As many as 798 people contracted the virus through contact, 219 returned from overseas and other states while the source of infection of 65 patients was not yet known, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

The deaths have been reported from Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Parassala, Kollam, and Kannur. The active cases touched9,458while at least 432 were discharged from hospitals after recovery. A total of 1.58 lakh people are under observation, Vijayan said.

READ | Amid rising COVID-19 cases, Kerala govt mulls imposing statewide complete lockdown

READ | Over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for second day in Kerala; Tally crosses 16,000

(With inputs from Agencies)