With the Keralagovernment imposing a lockdown from midnight tonight, the police department has asked people to remain indoors and not to venture out without any valid reason, failing which stern measures, including arrests, would follow.State police chief Loknath Behara said there will be an effective lockdown and it will be coordinated by IGs, DIGs and District police chiefs."For the effective lockdown of the state, police presence will be ensured in all the roads across Kerala.The police will take legal action against those who are travelling without any valid reason," Behara said in a release.He said only those who come under the essential services list of the state government will be allowed to travel and that too with valid reason.Till now the police have booked around 100 people for jumping home quarantine."We have till now registered cases against around 100 persons in the state for not adhering to the health department's direction to remain in home quarantine.As of now, they all are under treatment," a senior police official told PTI.He also said the police department has registered around 35 cases against some people for spreading fake news in connection with COVID-19 and have arrested 11 people."Not only fake cases. We have also registered around 27 cases against various religious institutions or places of worship in the state for not following the state government's directions.There were instructions not to form a crowd and also not to conduct prayers which will result in a crowd," the official said.Kerala decided to go in for a total lockdown from midnight tonight with 28 new positive cases, the highest on a single day, being reported on Monday, taking the total number of people under treatment in the state to 91 and over 64,000 under surveillance.
