Udupi district saw the highest spike in the number of COVID-19 cases with 26 people testing positive in a single day since March here on Thursday.
Of the 26 cases, 15 are children while seven are men and four women. Of the 15 children in the age group of 1-10, 10 are boys while five are girls. While 21 persons have travel history to Maharashtra, three persons have travel history to Telanganga, and person each to Kerala and United Arab Emirates.
G. Jagadeesha, Deputy Commissioner said that 25 people had been shifted to the designated COVID-19 hospital here for treatment. Only one person from Kerala had come to Kasturba Hospital and has been kept under isolation, he said.
Two cases
Two persons from Udupi district, who had travelled to Maharashtra and were lodged at a quarantine centre in Sirsi, had tested positive for COVID-19. Both these persons had been shifted to the designated COVID-19 hospital at Karwar in Uttara Kannada district, Mr. Jagadeesha said.
The district had recorded six COVID-19 cases on May 20 and five cases on May 19.
Designated hospitals
Mr. Jagadeesha said that a 120-bed hospital in Kundapur and a 100-bed hospital in Karkala have been set up for treating asymptomatic patients with COVID-19. Both these hospitals will start functioning soon, he said.
Speaking to presspersons at Kundapur in Udupi district, he said that the patients who would be treated in these hospitals were those not requiring intensive care treatment, ventilator or oxygen.
If any patient in these hospitals developed any symptoms of COVID-19 or required ventilator support, they would be immediately shifted to the Dr. T.M.A. Pai Hospital in Udupi, the hospital designated for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The administration would provide the staff required for the COVID-19 hospitals in Kundapur and Karkala, he said.
The district administration had also held talks with Indian Medical Association (IMA) to enlist the services of private doctors to treat in these hospitals.
A large number of persons were now coming to the district from other States and foreign countries. Some of them were testing positive for COVID-19. “COVID-19 is here in our district and now we have to deal with it. We will take every case as a challenge. Our aim is to save every person,” he said.
The administration had already set up an Expert Doctors Committee and it will deal with the treatment of critical cases of COVID-19, Mr. Jagadeesha said.
Meanwhile, a Quarantine Help Centre has been set up at the Kundapur town municipality building to give information with regard to quarantine centres in Kundapur Assembly Constituency.
