Coastal Thiruvananthapuram is being brought under tighter restrictions including a total lockdown from Saturday, given the worsening COVID-19 situation and the government concluding that community spread has occurred in heavily-populated Poonthura and Pulluvila.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, briefing the media, outlined detailed surveillance and disease containment measures for the coast, even as the capital district on Friday reported 246 new COVID-19 cases, of which 234 persons were infected through contact. The Chief Minister said the coastal region would go under a lockdown from Saturday, given the ‘serious situation.’
Three zones
For effectively enforcing the lockdown, the region has been divided into three zones, with District Police Chief (Thiruvananthapuram city) Balram Kumar Upadhyay acting as special officer. Zone-1 comprises the northern stretch from Anchuthengu to Perumathura. Perumathura-Vizhinjam and Vizhinjam-Oorambu comprise the second and third zones.
A special control room will be opened as part of operationalising the mechanism. SP (Traffic South) B. Krishnakumar is in charge of Zone-1, while SP (Vigilance) K. E. Baiju and K. L. Johnykutty, Principal, Police Training College, are in charge of zones two and three.
Each of the three zones will have two senior IAS officers each as Incident Commanders: Harikishor S. and U. V. Jose (Zone-1), M. G. Rajamanikyam and P. Bala Kiran (Zone-2) and S. Venkatesapathy and Biju Prabhakar (Zone-3). The containment measures will be jointly enforced by the Health and Police Departments, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and panchayats, Mr. Vijayan said. According to the Chief Minister, the disease was spreading at a brisk pace in the coast. Of the 97 samples tested in Pulluvila in Karumkulam panchayat, 51 have tested positive. In Poonthura, 26 of 50 samples tested positive, while 20 of 75 samples tested in Puthukurichi tested positive. In Anchuthengu, 15 of 83 samples have tested positive.
Shops selling essential commodities will remain open for a specified period of time daily in the locked-down areas. Foodgrain supply will be ensured by the Civil Supplies Department.
On whether the restrictions would be extended to city regions, the Chief Minister said, “There will be only cluster-based lockdown now and we are not thinking of a full lockdown. I can assure you that the situation was expected and we are prepared to handle it.”
Meanwhile, 780 people were placed under disease surveillance on Friday in the district, even as 1,063 people completed the observation period without developing symptoms. As on Friday, 20,805 people are under COVID-19 surveillance in the district, including 18,144 people in home quarantine.