Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai directed the Dakshina Kannada district administration to COVID-19 patients to COVID-19 Care Centres (CCCs) or hospitals by triaging.
Chairing a meeting on COVID-19 management in Mangaluru on August 12, the Chief Minister noted that as 80% of patients in the district are under home isolation, it gave scope for the infection to spread. The district administration should form micro containment zones.
Asking the administration to take COVID-19 management seriously like how it did during the first wave, Mr. Bommai said that all health infrastructure projects related to COVID-19 management, such as setting up of medical oxygen manufacturing units and arranging more beds with oxygen supply, should be completed within the next 20 days.
“The entire government machinery should work in coordination. It is the collective responsibility of all. The impact of the meeting should be shown on the field,” he said.
Reiterating that the government will give priority in supplying vaccines to districts bordering Kerala and Maharashtra, he told the Dakshina Kannada district administration to vaccinate eligible people residing within 10 km of the border with Kerala on priority.
The State is now getting up to 65 lakh doses of vaccine every month. The Union government has been requested to supply one crore doses from August. He and Health Minister K. Sudhakar will visit Delhi in a few days to prevail upon the Union government to supply 1.5 crore doses monthly from September.
The Chief Minister told the administration also vaccinate fishermen and fish traders visiting Kerala on priority as they are likely to spread the infection.
When Mangaluru MLA U.T. Khader pointed out to the shortage of masks, hand gloves and PPE kits in government health facilities, a visibly upset Chief Minister took Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra and Health & Family Welfare Officer Kishor Kumar to task for not ensuring the basic requirements. He told them to purchase the material locally without expecting everything to be supplied from Bengaluru.
Children’s health checkup
The Chief Minister told the administration to organise general health checkup camps for children on a war footing and complete the camps within the next 45 days. “No child should be left unchecked,” he said.
Earlier, the Health Minister noted that the positivity rate in the district went up from 3.12% from July 14 to July 20 to 4.07% between August 4 to August 10. “When the rate goes up above 4%, it is cause for concern,” he said.
‘Expert panel to meet next week’
The expert committee on COVID-19 prevention and management will meet next week to take stock of the situation in Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru and Dakshina Kannada, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced.
Mr. Bommai said the government will take an appropriate decision after reviewing COVID-19 management in all districts bordering Kerala and Maharashtra.
Earlier at a meeting on COVID-19 management in Mangaluru, the Chief Minister said that the government does not want to re-impose lockdown provided districts contain the spread of the infection effectively.
Referring to BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi’s demand for renaming Indira Canteens as ‘Annapoorna’ canteens, the Chief Minister said this is Mr. Ravi’s personal opinion.
