Coronavirus: Kerala to stop using breath analysers, delay weddings

Even as no fresh coronavirus cases were reported in Kerala over the last couple of days, the state continues to be on a high alert with even marriages being postponed, police doing away with use of breath analysers for checking drunken driving and imposing restrictions on college excursions.

The state health authorities have strengthened surveillance by trying to track details of all those who recently returned from China or any other coronavirus-hit countries.

Reports indicated that many who recently visited these countries were keeping off from reporting to the health authorities and a couple of persons were even suspected to have left for a Gulf country, despite instruction from the health authorities to be on home quarantine.

At Thrissur district, where one of the three coronavirus cases was reported, a youth working in China had even postponed his marriage function and limited the ceremony to a brief one. The groom even kept off from the ceremony, while his mother garlanded the bride.

Kerala state police chief Loknath Behera directed the police personnel not to conduct breath analyser test for checking drunken driving until the episode of coronavirus infections were over. Instead, those suspected to be involved in drunken driving should be subjected to a blood test, he directed.

Meanwhile, the condition of all the three Kerala medical students from China, who tested positive for coronavirus, continued to be stable. About 2,421 persons were under surveillance in Kerala till Monday evening, of which 100 were at hospital isolation wards and the remaining 2,321 were under home quarantine.