Even as the Kodagu administration is making serious efforts to trace those who travelled with and came in contact with the man from the district who tested positive for COVID-19, the health authorities have been asked to closely monitor those who returned from foreign countries and are in quarantine at their homes.
Many are under home quarantine and the movement of such persons should be watched closely as a precaution to contain the spread of the viral disease, said Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy in Madikeri on Friday, putting the onus on health workers, including ASHAs and anganwadi assistants. The Deputy Commissioner directed the tahsildars, taluk health officers and taluk panchayat executive officers to give status reports on persons in home quarantine on a daily basis.
The 500-metre area around Mottimotte has been declared as the “containment zone” as the infected man had visited this village near Kondangeri, about 10 km from Murnad. Residents of the village are barred from venturing out of their homes and contacting others. Essential supplies or them for 14 days will be made available by the food department. The village has about 75 families, with over 300 members in total.
In the buffer zone of Mottimotte, there are about 247 families consisting of 1,054 people in Kondangeri. The residents from the buffer zone should be put under constant monitoring and they should be rushed to a hospital if they show any COVID-19 symptoms, said Ms. Joy.
Contact tracing
Teams have been formed to trace those with whom the 35-year-old man who tested positive had come in contact with while travelling from Dubai to Bengaluru and from Bengaluru to Murnad via Mysuru-Madikeri, besides his family members and others he contacted upon arrival. His fellow passengers in the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus in which he travelled from Bengaluru to Murnad are also being traced.
The auto driver who had dropped the infected man at his village has been put in an isolation ward and is under observation. His throat swab samples have been sent for lab tests.
So far, 98 people the infected man had contact with have been identified and home quarantined. And with six positive cases reported from Kasaragod in Kerala, the DC has banned traffic between Kodagu and Kasaragod via Karike check-post with immediate effect.
Second advisory
The Kodagu district administration, in its second advisory, issued on Friday, said the advisory issued by it on Thursday had stated that the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus in which P-15 (the COVID-19 positive case from Kodagu) travelled from Bengaluru to Murnad via Mysuru-Madikeri was mentioned as KA19 F-3170. But as per the information given by the man, the start time of the Rajahamsa bus was 12.05 a.m. on March 16. At this time, KA-21 F-0231 was the bus in which the infected man travelled from the satellite bus stand in Bengaluru to Murnad via Mysuru-Madikeri.
P-15 boarded the BMTC Vayu Vajra bus KA-57 F-0908 from Bengaluru airport to the satellite bus stand at 5.30 p.m. on March 15 and reached the bus stand at 6.45 p.m., the advisory said. Any person who was his co-passenger in these buses should contact the health helpline (104) at the earliest and follow the instructions given by the Health Department.
No curbs on students
Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu Annies Kanmani Joy has asked officials to identify the students from the village declared as a “containment zone” and the village in the buffer zone who are to appear for the II PU and SSLC examinations and to make transportation arrangements for them to the exam centres.
As a rule, no resident from the containment zone is permitted to leave the place. However, if there are any students writing exams, they will be allowed to sit for their papers. Mottimotte has been declared a containment zone with Kodagu reporting its first COVID-19 positive case on Thursday, while Kondangeri village has been declared as the buffer zone because of its proximity to Ketumotte.
