While Dakshina Kannada district administration continued random screening of motorists for COVID-19 at the four check-posts from where vehicles from Kerala enter Dakshina Kannada, a team of Health Department staff led by District Health Officer Ramachandra Bairy visited 27 lodges in the city and made them aware of COVID-19 protocols that need to be strictly complied with for those coming from Kerala and Maharashtra.
Personnel posted at the busy Talapady check-post on the NH 66 collected throat and nasal swabs of 300 daily commuters on Wednesday. Among the many who provided the samples included a staffer of an orthopedician, who has his clinic at Uppala and in Mangaluru. “I do not want to be stranded. Hence, I am undergoing the test,” said the staffer, who hails from Uppala.
Among others who provided the sample included an officer hailing from Kasaragod who works in a branch of Life Insurance Corporation of India in Mangaluru. “We are asking motorists either to undergo the RT-PCR test at our health facilities free of cost or subject themselves to tests at the private laboratories. We are asking them to undergo RT-PCR test once every 15 days,” said an official overseeing operations at Talapady check-post.
Dr. Bairy said lodge managements are being told to comply with the norm of the Health Department of providing accommodation only to those who produce COVID-19 negative certificate following RT-PCR test. The lodge/hotel staff should undergo RT-PCR tests once every fortnight.
The DHO said educational institutions have already started testing of students who come from Kerala. The institutions have been given the format in which they have to give information about students from Kerala who are staying in the hostel and those who are day boarders, he said.
