Kerla : Kerala witnessed a marked rise in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases this recent week, with the state registering more than 22,000 cases for two straight days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Now, the PinarayiVijayan-led government has declared a complete lockdown in Kerala on Saturday and Sunday (i.e. July 31 and August 1), while the central government said that it is sending a six-member team to take stock of the situation and aid the civil administration in managing the infection surge.

Kerala is to be under complete lockdown on July 31 and August 1 in view of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state, news agency ANI reported on Thursday, citing state officials familiar with the development.

Meanwhile, Union health minister MansukhMandaviya said that the central government is sending a 6-member team to Kerala, headed by the director of the National Centre for Disease Control. "As a large number of Covid cases are still being reported in Kerala, the team will aid the state’s ongoing efforts in Covid-19," the minister wrote in a tweet from his personal handle on the microblogging website.

Kerala recorded 22,056 new Covid-19 cases and 131 fatalities on Wednesday. Of the new cases, 100 are health workers, 120 had come from outside the state and 20,960 were infected through contact with the source of contact being not clear in 876 cases, a government release said.

Elaborating on the matter, Kerala authorities say that some of the districts worst hit by the recent surge in Covid-19 are -- Malappuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Kollam, Alappuzha, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kottayam.

Meanwhile, India recorded 43,509 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the last 24 hours, which pushed the nationwide tally to 31,528,114 while the death toll climbed to 4,22,662 with 640 daily fatalities, according to a Union health ministry update on Thursday. The number of active cases in India have once again crossed the 4-lakh mark, with over 1.5 lakh active cases in Kerala alone, reports said.