The Kerala government on Thursday announced that complete lockdown will be imposed across the state on July 31 and August 1 in view of the increasing COVID-19 cases.
The weekend lockdown order was announced a day after the state registered 22,056 fresh COVID-19 cases and 131 deaths.
The fresh infections increased the overall caseload to 33,27,301, while the fatality count mounted to 16,457. As per the July 28 figures, Kerala had more than 50 percent of the overall COVID-19 cases across the country. As per the Union health ministry data released on Thursday morning, India logged 43,654 new cases in a span of 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the Centre is sending a four-member team of experts to take stock of the coronavirus situation and help the Pinarayi Vijayan government in tackling the COVID outbreak in Kerala.