Kerala has declared a state-wide lockdown till March 31 with 28 new coronavirus-positive cases being reported in the state on Monday.

All places of worship will be shut to the public during this period although the priests can conduct rituals, a meeting chaired by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided, among other measures.

At his daily media briefing, Vijayan announced a raft of helpful measures for the stranded migrant workers, toiling doctors and the general public during the lockdown.

He said 25 of the 28 new patients had returned from Dubai while the rest were primary contacts of earlier patients. Kerala now has 91 confirmed Covid-19 patients under treatment.

However, some relief came in the form of one patent being cured and discharged from a government hospital in Kannur, taking the total number of recovered patients in the state to four.

Nineteen of the 28 new positive cases were reported from the northernmost Kasaragod district, which was already under a lockdown because of a spike in the infection rate.

All forms of public transport, government and private, have been ordered to stop in Kerala from Monday midnight. Personal motor vehicles can ply to meet family necessities and emergencies.

Migrant workers, a large number of whom are from Bengal and Odisha, “will be moved to specially created camps where they will be given proper medical care and food for free”.

Vijayan said: “Migrant workers should not face any problems since they don’t have work now. That’s why we are taking these measures.”

Most of the migrant workers in Kerala work in the unorganised sector and are usually hired by contractors. With the state under lockdown, they will have no work.

The state plans to have one large hospital in each district to treat Covid-19 patients.

“District administrations and the state health department will coordinate to run these hospitals,” the chief minister said.

“Doctors and other health workers have been working without rest since the beginning. They will be given accommodation and food close to their hospital.”

A total of 64,320 people are under observation in the state, of whom 63,937 are in home quarantine and 383 in hospitals.

“Today’s cases show that our state is in an extraordinary situation,” Vijayan said.