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Udupi : Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakhar said he will take up before a high power committee on Covid-19 to find out the possibility of imposing lockdown of a particular house of the affected person instead of sealing down of entire or colony.

Talking to reporters during the press meet held at Rajathadri, Zilla Panchayat Hall here on Wednesday, June 3, after reviewing the district’s prevailing Covid situation, the minister said the concept and modalities of declaring any area as containment zone has undergone changes in the last two months.

Hitherto, we were declaring the entire area as the containment zone after detection of Corona positive cases. Subsequently, the area of containment zone was decreased from the whole area to particular street. Now, BJP MLA Raghupati Bhat has given a suggestion to seal down a particular house of the positive patient which would be taken up before the high power panel. The district administration concerned could supply all essential items to the particular family.

He said one laboratory is functioning in district hospital to test Corona suspected cases and another laboratory would be set up within 10 days. This would facilitate daily testing of around 1200 people. The district which was in green zone for almost two and a half months, has witnessed spike in positive cases and has overtaken Bengaluru city. This happened due to return of migrant and hotel workers from Maharashtra. The district administration has promised to take back this district to the green zone with the co-operation of people.

The district has so far quarantined 13542 people, with 8624 arriving in the district in May, of which 152 are from abroad and 8472 from other states, of which 7697 are from Maharashtra. Of the 539 people tested for every 1 lakh population in the district, 12504 samples were collected, a total of 410 positive cases, 64 were released, 345 active cases, and one death. Minister said that 98% of the cases, which means 400 people have no symptoms, have created 63 containment zones and 61 containment zones.

He regretted that a stigma was being attached to the Corona affected people without understanding it is like any other viral fever. It is not dreaded or dangerous when compared to other diseases. But people have to follow certain rules to keep the pandemic at bay. It was heartening to note that the doctors of Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubballi have successfully conducted plasma transfusion on a serious Covid patient. The patient has recovered fully. The government was exploring all possibilities to provide treatment to the Corona patients till the vaccine was found out. Besides, the government has set up war-room, dashboard and centrally monitored ICU to treat patients by a team of expert doctors.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appreciated Karnataka for its efforts to contain the virus. The union government had been providing all facilities to all the states to deal with the situation, he said.

To a query by media persons, he said, those who are arriving by flight should register themselves first. They have compulsorily to follow the guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research. They should also submit corona negative test report within two days means 48 hours of arrival in the state. Like Bengaluru International Airport, being a international airport of Mangaluru also be applicable, he said.

To a other query, he said that the number of migrants from abroad and other states are increasing and positive cases also are on rise. Therefore, Karnataka government has liberalized quarantine period for seven days after understanding the ground difficulties. Now a days the definition of containment zone is changed and it is restricted only to a positive patient’s house or flat in apartment and nearby streets, he said.

The minister said that the district administration demanded the 2,000 PPE kits, the government will provide the same kits through the concerned department. He said that earlier there were no coronavirus cases in Udupi district and hence it was under green zone. However, presently Udupi district has gone to the top spot in the state. There was several pandemic viruses in the world like Covid 19. People need not worry about increasing numbers but need to take precautions like face mask, social distancing, hand wash, using sanitizer and keeping hygiene. It is said that people of Udupi district are more intelligent and educated, he said.

The minister said that earlier there was only two labs in the state, but now increased to 64. These labs have conducted 3,31,687 tests so far and only 3,792 have tested coronavirus positive. There were only 85 per cent people do not have coronavirus symptoms. There was only 15 percent have moderate symptoms and 3.4 per cent patients need ICU facility. In order to avoid panic among the people especially in rural and urban areas, the government has directed to district administrations to form a task force committee. There should also committees in every ward and booth wise in urban areas, he said.

Kota Srinivas Poojary district in-charge minister of DK., local MLA Raghupathy Bhat, Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar, Halady Srinivas Shetty MLA of Kundapur, Sukumar Shetty of Byndoor MLA, Dinakar Babu President of Zilla Panchayat, G Jagadeesh District Collector, Preeti Gehlot CEO of Zilla Panchayat and others were present.