Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja and Finance Minister Thomas Isaac give diversified opinions on extension of lockdown

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja and Finance Minister Thomas Isaac on Tuesday welcomed the decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the lockdown to May 3.

"We expected the extension of the lockdown period. The state will hold a meeting tomorrow to decide the next action plan," Shailaja told reporters.

She further said that though cases are coming down in Kerala, "We cannot say that everything is normal as there is still a possibility of the virus spreading among people. We have to take stringent action to avoid the spread of coronavirus."

Meanwhile, the state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac urged the Central government to "learn from the mistakes it made in the past three weeks of the lockdown."

"Though I accept that there was no other option to prevent the spread of coronavirus than extending the lockdown period, the number of testing should be increased for an effective result," he told ANI.

He further said, "The Centre needs to think about providing subsistence to the people as a majority of people lost their source of income and the savings are also exhausted. The starvation will drive the people out of their homes like the migrant workers."

"The Centre needs to bring in policies for economic growth along with combating against coronavirus. For the first time, the state governments are going through a month without earning any revenue whatever the government is giving is minuscule," he added.