The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation will start operating special bus services for government staff in the district from Monday. It will connect Alappuzha with major centres in the district.
“Our plan was to start the services from Friday. But, the district administration has urged us to postpone it for a couple of days. In the initial phase, the services will be conducted in the Alappuzha- Haripad, Alappuzha- Cherthala, Alappuzha- Thannermukkom, and Alappuzha-Kidangara sectors. More sectors will be included based on initial response,” said, V. Ashok Kumar, District Transport Officer, on Thursday.
The services will be conducted in compliance with social distancing norms. All commuters will have to wear masks. They will be provided sanitiser to clean their hands before boarding the bus. The crew will also follow the health protocol. A maximum of 27 people will be allowed on a bus. Commuters will have to pay double the fare.
The move comes after government employees found it difficult to commute in the absence of public transport due to the lockdown.
As many as 197 expatriates reached the district since the Vande Bharat Mission and Operation Samudra Setu started last week to repatriate Indians from foreign countries.
On Thursday, six people reached the district from overseas. Of this, three persons who arrived at the Karipur airport from Kuwait were shifted to a COVID care centre in Alappuzha municipality.
Officials said of the total returnees, 117 had been lodged at COVID care centres in different parts of the district to serve the mandatory institutional quarantine period. Besides, six people were staying at a paid quarantine facility and 74 people in the exempted category such as pregnant women, children, and the elderly were in self-quarantine at their homes.
A total of 1,850 people have so far reached the district from other States.
According to the district administration, a total of 2,154 people are in quarantine in the district. This included 336 put in quarantine on Thursday and seven people under observation at the Government Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha, with symptoms of COVID-19.
The district has so far reported five COVID-19 cases and all have been cured of the disease. It has not logged a single positive case of the disease since April 8.
