Home Minister and Udupi district in-charge Basavaraj Bommai said on Monday that 96 % of COVID-19 patients in Udupi district were those who returned from Mumbai.
Addressing presspersons after a review meeting here, Mr. Bommai said that 908 out of a total of 946 COVID-19 cases in the district had Mumbai travel history. Despite the district, which was in the Green Zone for two months, noticing a spike in COVID-19 cases, the discharge rate of recovered patients too was quite high.
As many as 247 persons had recovered from COVID-19 and had been discharged from the COVID-19 hospitals in the district. “Our aim is to see that there is no fatality due to the disease,” he said.
Of the 946 COVID-19 cases, 929 were asymptomatic, while only 17 cases were symptomatic. There were 627 active cases in the district. The district also had a high rate of testing for COVID-19. As many as 12,530 persons had been tested for COVID-19.
At present, there were over 350 persons in institutional quarantine in the district. Byndoor had the highest number of quarantine zones in the district followed by Karkala, he said.
Mr. Bommai said that he would take up the demand of the MLAs from the district to provide direct home quarantine facility to those who returned from Mumbai/Maharashtra and seal down their houses. “I will discuss this matter with the Chief Minister and Health Minister,” he said.
Village Task Forces had been formed in all villages of the district to supervise those in home quarantine. Standard Operating Procedures would be drawn up for these task forces. A COVID-19 test lab would come up on the District Government Hospital premises here in about a fortnight, Mr. Bommai said.
To a query, Mr. Bommai said that over 65 police personnel in the State had tested positive for COVID-19 in the State, and over 30 of them had been discharged after treatment.
Steps taken
In Hassan, Mr. Bommai told presspersons that the State government has been taking all necessary measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19 infection by quarantining all those who arrived from other States. Mr. Bommai, who chaired a meeting of police officers, said that the infection spread from those who arrived from foreign countries. Then, there were cases involving those who participated in the Tablighi event in Delhi. “Now, the number of cases is increasing because of people arriving from Maharashtra. People here need not panic. We are quarantining all such people and are also taking effective measures to avoid the spread of the infection,” he said.
As many as nine policemen had contracted the infection in Hassan. They were recovering. The police had taken enough measures necessary to ensure the safety of the public, he said.
Regarding the alleged misuse of funds in the 11th KSRP Battalion, the Minister said that the case had been referred to the CID.