NASHIK: Appreciating the response from Nashikites to the restrictions put in place by the district disaster management authority,
Nashik district collector Suraj Mandhare has ruled out any more stricter measures for now.
“I appreciate the manner in which the citizens responded during the weekend. It was satisfactory and hence, at this point, the existing restrictions will continue. We are close monitoring the developments,” he said.
Mandhare, who is the chairperson of the DDMA, held a review meeting with various department heads on Monday. The district-level Emergency Operations Centres (EOC), of which they are a part, has decided to meet more frequently.
NMC commissioner Kailas Jadhav, Zilla Parishad chief executive officer Leena Bansod were also present for the meeting. Divisional commissioner Radhakrishna Game guided the meeting.
The DDMA has already announced that all shops and establishments will operate from 7am to 7pm only on weekdays. All the establishments and the even temples will remain closed for the entire day on weekends. Public transportation, however, will not be closed at any point of time.
Mandhare said instead of joint teams, all the departments have been asked to carry out random checking to ensure Covid-19-appropriate behaviour.
Collector has also asked the respective authorities to open Covid Care Centres, along with the Dedicated Covid Health Centres where required. At the same time, he has asked the health officials to increase the testing in the containment zones.
“We will be activating the automated RNA Extraction and automated RT-PCR testing machine at civil hospital in two days. NMC will also open its lab soon and testing will go up by 10,000 samples per day in the district,” Mandhare added.
“Since the people in home isolation appear to be violating norms, we are going to take strict against such violations. We are opening up CCCs as well now so violators can be put there – if the situation warrants,” he said.