Patients will be compulsorily shifted to COVID-19 Care Centres in Udupi district

Patients found infected with COVID-19 will be compulsorily shifted to COVID Care Centres in Udupi district from August 5.

Chief Executive Officer of Udupi Zilla Panchayat Y. Naveen Bhat gave an instruction to the Health Department officials at a meeting in Udupi on Tuesday.

The instruction applies to the new positive cases being reported from Thursday. In case a patient needs an exemption from being shifted to COVID Care Centres, the District Health and Family Welfare Officer and the respective Taluk Health Officers will take a decision case by case, Mr. Bhat said.

The measure, he said, is to prevent the spread of the disease to primary contacts and others in homes as the number of new cases in the district too is on the rise. Hence, there is a need to break the chain.

Mr. Bhat asked the Health Department to depute enough doctors and nurses to COVID Care Centres and collect more than 5,000 samples daily and test them. All gram panchayats will be instructed to cooperate, he said.

He asked the health officials to inspect passengers who arrive by trains for COVID-19 test negative certificates. The tests should have been conducted 72 hours prior to travelling, he said. In case of passengers not carrying the certificates, their swab samples should be collected at the railway stations, he said.

Mr. Bhat asked the officials to compulsorily seal down accommodations of COVID-19 patients and if there are more than five cases in an area, it should be declared a containment zone, he said.

There is a need for reserving 1,000 beds for treating new patients, he said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner A. Sadashiva Prabhu instructed officials to open checking centres in Udupi, Kundapur and Baindoor railway stations. They should function round the clock, he said. COVID care centres in Udupi, Kundapur and Baindoor taluks should be thrown open on Thursday, he said.