Triple lockdown in Thiruvananthapuram from today

Only necessary services will be allowed," Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said. The announcement comes hours after the minister said the district was 'sitting on an active volcano' with rising number of COVID-19 cases and there was no guarantee that there would be no community spread.

PTI

July 06, 2020 / 08:19 AM IST

The Kerala government on decided to impose triple lockdown in Thiruvananthapuram corporation limits following a spike in coronavirus cases. The lockdown would be implemented from 6 AM on July 6 and would last for a week.

Only necessary services will be allowed," Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said. The announcement comes hours after the minister said the district was 'sitting on an active volcano' with rising number of COVID-19 cases and there was no guarantee that there would be no community spread.

Surendran,who is also in charge of the district, said the courts here would remain closed. "There will be no public transportation. Only the medical, other essential shops and hospitals will function. People can go to medical shops with a proper prescription," he said.

The Minister's office warned of action against those who venture out unnecessarily. The Kerala University has declared the cancellation of all exams in view of the lockdown.

Earlier in the day, the Minister told reporters that the state government has decided to conduct more antigen tests in the district to check the spread of the virus.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show