With the active COVID-19 caseload hovering around the 50,000-mark, the capital district has entrusted local bodies with a greater role in containing the spread.
A district-level COVID-19 review meet that was held on Friday decided to revive rapid response teams (RRTs) and volunteer groups to intensify the pandemic-control measures. Janakeeya hotels and community kitchens will also be opened wherever necessary.
Evening out-patient facility will be resumed in primary and community health centres across the district.
General Education and Labour Minister V. Sivankutty, who chaired the online meeting, stressed the role of RRTs in local self-government institutions in ensuring the welfare of the large proportion of COVID-19-infected people who were quarantining at home. Priority must also be given to ensure all children aged between 15 and 18 years were vaccinated.
He also called for steps to intensify containment efforts at the ward level. Control rooms and front help-desks must also be opened in hospitals and local body offices at the earliest, he said.
Mr. Sivankutty also issued directions to establish an adequate number of domiciliary care centres (DCCs) and COVID first-line treatment centres (CFLTCs) in each local body. Volunteer teams will be expanded and the contact details of team captains will be shared with the office of the tahsilar concerned as well as the control room at the District Collector to deploy them for exigencies.
Medicines, ambulances
The meeting also decided to expedite steps to provide financial assistance to the families of those who succumbed to the disease. It was also decided to deploy RRTs to supply medicines and ensure ambulance availability wherever necessary.
Transport Minister Antony Raju, Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil, Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran, district panchayat president D. Suresh Kumar, Additional District Magistrate E. Muhammed Safeer, Deputy Collector (Disaster Management) Vineeth T.K., City Police Commissioner G. Sparjan Kumar and District Police Chief (Thiruvananthapuram Rural) Divya V. Gopinath were among those who participated in the meeting.
