Tighter lockdown restrictions came into effect in the city’s coastal areas on Thursday with the Poonthura region, which has turned a COVID-19 superspreader, coming under stringent regulations.
The region, comprising Poonthura, Mankiyavilakam and Puthenpally wards, has reported an alarming positivity rate with close to 200 cases, mostly due to local transmission, being identified among over 600 people.
In view of the disturbing situation, the district administration has declared the region a critical containment zone.
The adjacent wards—Vallakadavu, Beemapally East, Beemapally, Valiyathura and Muttathara—has been designated as buffer zone of the critical wards. These areas were barricaded to prevent movement to and from the region and thus thwart the possibility of a community spread, Inspector General and District Police Chief (Thiruvananthapuram City) Balram Kumar Upadhyay said.
Besides having deployed commandos, the government has stationed 500 police personnel including senior police officers in the region. The public have been directed to remain strictly at home, except to seek essential healthcare, medicines, food supplies, and ration.
Patrol intensified
The Coast Guard and Coastal Police have intensified patrol along the coast to enforce the prevailing ban on fishing activities in the district. The Health Department has been undertaking aggressive testing to identify and isolate infected persons along the coastal belt.
As part of efforts to alleviate the woes of the coastal community, free ration of 5kg will be distributed to all families in the critical containment zone. To prevent crowding, they have been allotted specific days to avail themselves of free rations from their nearest ration outlets on the basis of the last digits of their ration card numbers. The Corporation has commenced disinfection of public places, houses, and other buildings in the region.
Some relaxation in curbs
The district administration has further relaxed the ongoing triple lockdown restrictions by extending the working time of milk booths, vegetable stalls, and grocery shops by an hour. While such outlets can be made open for public from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. as earlier, traders will be permitted to replenish their stock from distributors from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. While banks and other financial establishments in the Corporation limits and in containment zones in other parts of the district can function until 1 p.m., those in the critical containment zones and buffer zones will remain closed.