Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 15 (IANS): As Covid cases in Kerala continue to surge, an emergency meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan with top officials on Thursday decided to launch a massive testing drive in the coming two days where an expected 2.5 lakh people will be tested.

The test positivity rate on Wednesday shot up to over 13 per cent, up from 3 per cent early this month. With the cases increasing across the country, Kerala authorities decided to tighten the Covid protocols which included controlling the crowds at the markets and malls besides restricting the number of people at weddings, house warming parties and such functions.

The meeting was chaired by Vijayan through video conferencing as he is currently in quarantine.

In the next two days those who will be tested include officials who took active part in the April 6 assembly elections, besides those who work in the hospitality industry and those who have a lot of exposure to people.

Vijayan has directed that the testing take place across all the 14 districts of the state. The policy that will be adopted is to ensure Covid jabs are increased besides strongly enforcing Covid protocols.

He also asked the authorities to ensure that with the Class X and XII examinations currently on, all the students are given adequate transport facilities.

The number of people who can take part in indoor functions is now restricted to 75, while for outdoor events it should not exceed more than 150 and for all such events police permission has to be obtained.

On Wednesday 8,778 people turned Covid positive after 65,258 samples was sent for testing.

At present the total number of Covid positive patients has touched 58,245, while 11,25,775 people have recovered so far.