Udupi: Order issued to increase containment coverage

Udupi: A order has been issued to increase the containment coverage in wake of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases across the district. Henceforth, if a COVID-19 containment zone in an urban area will be of 1 kilometre from the incidence and if the incidence is in a village, then the entire village will be considered as a containment zone.

Presently, the containment zone is extended to a COVID-19 patient’s home or apartment and nearby homes and shops. However, the authorities would only seal the homes of the COVID-19 patient and the locals too were not informed about the containment zone guidelines. Sometimes, the authorities would not even have complete information about the incidence. All these factors attributed to COVID-19’s surge in the district.

1,315 containment zones were made in the district of which 490 are presently active.

Official notices for the containment zones are issued too late by which time a lot of human movements occurs in them making it easier for the virus to spread.

As more cases are being confirmed, the decision to extend the coverage area of the containment zone was being considered by the district administration. After passing an order regarding it the administration has also warned that action will be taken against the authorities for any COVID-19 deaths in a zone.

Deputy Commissioner G Jagadeesha stated that so far, the Kundapur sub-divisional officer was the Incident Commander for all the zones in the district. Now the government has approved the appointment of three Incident Commanders.