With two-third of COVID-19 positive cases being reported in rural areas during the second wave, the district administration is focusing on establishing Panchayat Level COVID-19 Care Centres (PLCCC) in all the 225 village panchayats in the district.
The district had reported 35,027 positive cases and 182 deaths in May, two-third of which were reported in rural areas.
With the district reporting over 1,700 cases every day, the district administration started focusing on containing the spread of the virus in rural areas and hence village-level committees to prevent the spread and monitor the activities were to be formed.
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The committee will comprise village panchayat president, panchayat secretary, village administrative officer, village health nurse and a police inspector. Also, taluk officers and block development officers should support the committee and carry out preventive measures.
Collector C. Kathiravan said the committee should choose a centre in the panchayat which might be a marriage hall, school building or other building. “After a person tests positive at the triage centre (screening centre), he or she may be sent to the PLCCC, if home isolation is not possible for them,” he said.
The centre should have all the basic amenities and health department staff should monitor the persons at the centre, he added.
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Positive patients, if they wished to get accommodation, should come with their belongings like plate, tumbler, dress, bags, mobile phone chargers, soap and buckets and the panchayat could also provide materials from the general fund. “Only parcel food should be distributed to the persons at the centres,” he added.
The committee should also prevent entry of outsiders or unwanted persons into the panchayat while police personnel would also be posted at the centre, he added.