Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran on Sunday said that all political parties should desist from holding large-scale protests, saying that it may lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
"In a democracy, opposition and the public have the right to hold protest and demonstrations. But during COVID-19 gatherings of hundreds in the name of protests cannot be allowed. Anyone can hold protest following COVID-19 guidelines," he said.
Surendran's statement comes in the backdrop of a high-level meeting by the state government, where it was decided that the safety precaution in the state capital will be increased, following a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, including an auto driver and bus driver testing positive.
The state tourism minister said that there were instances of protestors involving in confrontation with police.
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"Such incidents should be avoided. Seeing all this I doubt that some people who are behind these protests want to make the State Capital like that of Chennai or Mumbai where there is a high number of COVID-19 cases. Such an attitude just to criticise the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government is highly deplorable," he added.
He said that an all-party meeting and meeting of MLAs would be held to discuss the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the state capital.
On Saturday, the highest single-day spike of 127 positive COVID-19 cases was reported in Kerala with 1450 active cases. In Thiruvananthapuram, there are 49 COVID-19 cases and 16853 people are in quarantine including 142 in hospitals.
So far, 111 hotspots across the State have been reported.
ANI report.
