The active coronaviruscases in Kerala rose to 263 with nine new cases on Tuesday as an expert task force pitched for a 'phased' and 'calibrated' lifting of the 21-day national lockdown restrictions, saying the pandemic was an "unprecedented" public health crisis in recent history.Of the new cases, four of them had returned from abroad, two had attended the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Delhi and the rest contracted the virus through contacts with infected people, the state government said.Continuing to restrict large scale movement of people across international and state boundaries is "critical" and relaxing it should not be considered unless and until the situation was under control in every state, the task force, appointed by the government to evolve a strategy for easing the restrictions, suggested in its 39-page report."The Expert Committee assessed that the time is not yet ripe for full withdrawal of the lock down on April 14th, 2020. The Committee recommends a withdrawal strategy that should be gradual, phased and calibrated to ensure that the case load is always kept below the (surge) capacity of the healthcare system to deal with it," it said in the report submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday.Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday after a COVID-19 review meeting, Vijayan said samples of 12 infected people have returned negative, indicating their recovery.He said the total number coronavirus cases in the state touched 336 with 263 being the active patients.At least 1,46,686 people in the state are under observation out of which 752 are in isolation wards. The state has till now sent 11,232 samples for testing."Out of the 12 persons cured, five are from Kannur, four are from Ernakulam and one each from thiruvananthapuram, Kasaragod and Alappuzha," Vijayan said.The chief minister also said the state had reached an agreement with neighbouring Karnataka, which will open its border road at Talapady check-post and allow critically ill non-COVID-19 patients to cross the border for treatment in Mangaluru."The chief secretaries of both the states have held a discussion and finalised a protocol to allow the patients to travel across the border after the Supreme Court direction", he said.The patients need to have a certificate from a local doctor that he need to be treated at a specific hospital at Mangaluru and should specifically mention that it was not possible to travel all the way to Kannur for treatment.However, television channels showed visuals purportedly of an ambulance carrying a sick child waiting for hours at the border on Tuesday and later being turned away.Amid high alert sounded for keeping a vigil on animals after a tiger in New York tested positive for coronavirus, Vijayan said zoos in the state will be disinfected and urged the people to clean living spaces of their pets.The state government will take necessary steps to make available books to children as the libraries across the state were closed due to lockdown, he said."The state government has decided to allow the mobile shops to open on Sundays and the vehicle workshops on Thursdays and Sundays. The spare parts shops can also open along with that," Vijayan said.Kasaragod, from where the maximum number of positive cases had been reported, a covid care centre has started functioning and eight patients have been admitted, the health ministry said.Vijayan lashed out at state Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran for his criticism of the Left front government for holding discussions with non-resident Keralites on COVID- 19 situation.Ramachandran said the government was discussing matters only with the "ultra-rich" and was not even considering the Congress in the decision making related to Covid-19 matters."We have held the discussion with the representatives of NRKs comprising commoners, businessmen, professionals, the organisation leaders etc. In the first phase, we had asked the members of Loka Kerala Sabha to intervene in the matters of Keralites abroad," Vijayan said.He also said video conference was held with over 40 representatives from over 20 countries including Italy, Haiti, Bangladesh, Australia, Canada, UK, Bahrain, Ukraine.As per the latest report, Kasaragod has the highest number of COVID-19 patients -- 131, followed by Kannur 46.As of now, Kozhikode has 21,934 people under observation, the largest in the state.
