The police have tightened the noose on those found violating home quarantine norms, with 20 cases getting registered in the district on Friday.
While the City police registered 18 cases, the Rural police registered two. All the offenders were shifted to institutional quarantine and charged with IPC Sections 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), and 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule), in addition to relevant provisions of the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance, 2020.
The City police also conducted a surprise check and seized seven private buses on the charge of flouting physical distancing norms.
“We are leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that quarantine protocols are strictly complied with. There are 2,125 persons in quarantine in 1,235 households in the city. We have deployed 75 motorcycle patrol teams who visit these households twice a day to ensure that there is no violation of quarantine rules,” said District Police Chief (Kochi City) Vijay Sakhare.
Besides, the Station House Officers concerned also visit quarantined people and educate them about the tele-medicine platform of the police named Suraksha, show awareness videos about quarantine protocol, and help them install the COVID Safety mobile app that helps the police keep track of quarantined people and detect violations, if any.
The police also deploy drones, examine CCTV footage from quarantine zones, and take neighbours of quarantined people into confidence for reporting any violations. Nearly 500 violations have been noticed. The renewed vigour of the City police in cracking down on quarantine norm violators came on a day the State registered the biggest spike in COVID-19 cases on a single day since the outbreak of the pandemic.
District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik said people returning from other States should undergo mandatory quarantine, failing which stringent action would be taken against them.
He added that the Rural police were closely watching those in home quarantine through their Happy@Home mobile app and urged people to report those found violating quarantine norms.
There are 3,588 persons in home quarantine and 434 in institutional quarantine within the Ernakulam Rural police limits.
