Though any extension of the restrictions beyond the lockdown period in hotspot districts would cause difficulties for the people, it would help to contain the spread of COVID-19, Thrissur District Collector S. Shanavas said on Monday.
The districts identified as hotposts of the disease would get better attention from the State and Union governments, the Collector told The Hindu.
“The hotspot districts have been chosen based on the chances of community spread of the pandemic. There is no case of community spread in Thrissur, or even in the rest of the State. What we have is family spread. That is due to some errors committed in following home quarantine guidelines. Instead of remaining in room quarantine, many followed family quarantine, creating chances of spreading the disease to their dear and near ones,” the Collector said.
All the three MPs from the district had allotted funds for procuring the rapid test kits, he said.
“Arrangements have been made to procure 2,000 kits from Pune-based Mylab. But each kit costs about ₹1,900. But the Rajeev Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, has developed a kit which costs only ₹350. As they are planning to submit it for ICMR permission in a few days, we think we can wait for a few days for further procurement of kits.”
Safety equipment for medical practitioners, including N-95 masks, three-layer masks and gloves were available in the district. But there was a shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE). However, so far, no medical professional had been deployed to attend to any positive case without safety equipment. The district would procure more PPE kits, he said.
Community kitchens would continue till the restrictions of lockdown were eased. Subsidised eateries run by Kudumbashree which would serve food at ₹25, would continue. Kudumbashree would open 1,000-odd such eateries in the State, he said.
Patient discharged
Meanwhile, one COVID-19 patient, who recovered from the disease, was discharged from hospital in Thrissur on Monday. In all, 1,4716 persons are under observation for the disease in the district.