One man one umbrella, Kerala's village finds a unique way to promote social distancing

Kerala's village Alappuzha has found a unique way with a very basic tool for social distancing in their fight against coronavirus. The villagers will be using an umbrella for social distancing.

The panchayat authorities of the tourist destination will ensure that umbrellas are available to all. According to panchayat officials of Thanneermukkom, Kerala's Finance Minister Thomas Isaac came up with this unique idea to promote social distancing.

Why an umbrella?

Umbrellas are basic and cheap tool found in almost every household in the state, a gap between two people holding an umbrella will ensure at least a one-metre gap to ensure enough distance.

The minister took to Twitter to share the picture of people practising physical distancing in the village, he said: "To enforce physical distancing, Thaneermukkom GP in Alappuzha, mandates that everyone hold the umbrella when they go out of houses. Two opened umbrellas, not touching each other, will ensure a minimum distance of one meter from one another. Umbrellas distributed at a subsidized rate."

Kerala has 480 coronavirus cases including four deaths.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 29,974 with 1,594 new cases and 51 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, India's health ministry said on Tuesday.

The death toll due to the virus has now climbed to 937, the health ministry said. There are 22,010 active COVID-19 cases with 7,027 patients cured of the virus