In order to manage the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the district at the local body level, District Collector S. Suhas has ordered the constitution of COVID-19 management committees at the panchayat level, under the supervision of respective tahsildars.
The committee would comprise a representative of the local body, a sub inspector of police, a doctor from the local primary or community health centre, and a representative nominated by the tahsildar.
The committee would be required to make arrangements to set up a 50-100 -bed first-line treatment centre, along with tele-medicine and swab collection facilities.
The committee must also arrange for double-chambered vehicles to transport patients, and identify grocery and medical shops that can be opened in containment zones on a rotation basis.
The committee will function from 24-hour control rooms which are to be set up at local bodies to deal with monsoon-related exigencies.
Local bodies have been asked to make a list of teachers, police and other government officials in the area who can be called upon if the area is declared a containment zone.
The strategy is to make available the maximum number of beds possible at the local level for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients in the next 10 days, the Collector said in an online briefing.
GH ward to reopen
The patients who were in quarantine in the general ward of the Ernakulam General Hospital have been discharged after they tested negative and the ward is set to begin functioning again, sources said.
A psychiatrist from the hospital had also tested positive recently, but since the doctor had been off duty for a week, staff members were not required to go into quarantine.
Test results for the patients in the cardiac ward are awaited.
