Health and Family Welfare Minister B. Sriramalu said on Tuesday that the State government would provide more ventilators for government hospitals treating COVID-19 patients in Udupi district.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Sriramalu said that the district administration had sought ventilators for these hospitals. There were 1,306 beds available for COVID-19 patients in the district. Another 1,200 beds would be added soon.
He had recommended to the government to send those who had returned from Maharashtra into 14 days home quarantine with their houses being sealed down as a precautionary measure to check the spread of COVID-19.
Legislators from Udupi district had made this recommendation to him and he had accepted it.
Those who returned from Maharashtra should compulsorily stay in their houses for a fortnight and if anyone was found violating quarantine conditions, legal cases would be initiated against them and they would be sent to institutional quarantine.
If such returnees were poor, then grocery kits would be delivered to their houses. Hitherto, returnees from Maharashtra had to undergo seven-day institutional quarantine followed by home quarantine.
Returnees from other States were undergoing 14-day home quarantine and this would continue.
Those coming from foreign countries had to undergo week-long institutional quarantine followed by week-long home quarantine, he said.
To a query, Mr. Sriramalu said that there was no community spread of COVID-19 either in the State or in Udupi district. As many as 12,538 persons had submitted samples in Udupi district and of them, 946 had tested positive for COVID-19. Results of 28 people were awaited.
As many as 335 persons had been discharged from hospitals after treatment for COVID-19. At present, 615 persons were undergoing treatment in the district, he said.
