Essential commodities have been distributed to people living in the 19,753 houses located in the containment zones in Udhagamandalam, Coonoor and Kotagiri towns.
The residents were also given ₹ 1,000 in cash as part of the financial assistance announced by the Chief Minister to all ration cardholders, said the Nilgiris Collector, J.Innocent Divya.
Ms. Divya said the containment zones had been set up around the residences of four persons who tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 380 teams had been established to go from door to door in the containment zones to check if any of the residents were showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Special emphasis was being given to households with elderly people and pregnant women. The Collector added that so far, none of the people living in these zones had shown any symptoms.
The four persons, who were kept in the isolation ward at the government headquarters hospital here, had been moved to a treatment facility in Coimbatore on Sunday.
Four others, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi, had also been kept in the isolation ward at Udhagamandalam. Their test results were negative for COVID-19. The primary contacts of all eight persons had been quarantined, the Collector added.
Following reports that farmers are disposing of their harvest due to problems with the movement of freight between districts, and also due to the shutdown of many businesses, the district administration has appealed to them to reach out to the Horticulture Department or the Agri-marketing Department that have offered to purchase their produce.
The Horticulture Department stated that the farmers could use their cold storage facility in Udhagamandalam that had a capacity of 500 metric tonnes.
Moreover, if the farmers continued to face troubles in selling their produce, the department itself would purchase the produce at fair prices, officials said.
The Horticulture and Agri-marketing departments have been preparing vegetable bags to be sold at ₹ 150 per bag to people living in the containment zones and in remote parts of the district.