Reeling under an unabated sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, the southern Indian state of Kerala will enforce a two-day lockdown on July 31 and August 1 while the Indian Health Ministry is rushing a high-level multi-disciplinary team there to help contain the alarming spread of the disease.

Kerala has an active case load of 1.54 lakh and is contributing 37.1 percent of the total active cases in India, with a growth rate of 1.41 in the last seven days, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The average daily cases being reported in the state are above 17,443.

Kerala reported more than 22,000 cases for two consecutive days on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The six-member team being sent by the Indian government to Kerala is headed by Dr SK Singh, director of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). It will work closely with the state health departments, take a stock of the ground situation and recommend necessary public health interventions to contain the large number of cases being reported by Kerala.