Retailing of masks and sanitisers at affordable rates across Ponlait milk parlours and restriction on timings for visiting the Promenade Beach are among the measures decided at a review meeting on Monday, Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan said.
Addressing the media after inspecting the PHC and Community Hall at Lawspet, Ms. Soundararajan said one of the decisions at a review meeting with officials of all regions on Monday was to provide masks and sanitisers at affordable rates across an estimated 70 Ponlait outlets.
“Initially, stocks of masks have been made available and sanitisers would shortly be supplied to these outlets. For the indigent, we are also providing masks free of cost,” she added.
Timings revised
The Promenade Beach will be open to the public only from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. as part of new measures being taken to cut transmission risk. The night curfew timing has been revised to between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Dine-in at restaurants will be allowed only till 8 p.m.
According to the Lt. Governor, markets would be segregated by commodity to reduce overcrowding.
Officials would be conducting a consultation with religious leaders on timings for keeping open places of worship.
The administration had declared 20 micro containment zones in Puducherry and ASHA workers had been deployed to visit home isolation patients on a regular basis, the Lt. Governor said.
Also, on the basis of recommendations of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), colour coding of zones such as red (high transmission risk) for hotspots and orange (moderate transmission risk) for other containment areas with lower incidence had been adopted.
“All measures have been undertaken on a war footing to contain the pandemic and official machinery has been deployed on the field to ensure that there is no shortcoming in care and prevention.”
“We have also sourced adequate stocks of essential medicines from the Union Government,” the Lt. Governor said.
Currently, there was a reserve capacity of 1,398 out of the total 2,425 beds, 625 out of 970 oxygen beds and 28 of 135 ICU beds. Testing and vaccination efforts had been intensified in crowded areas. Fever clinics had been opened in PHCs, Ms. Soundararajan said.
“The coronavirus strains triggering the second wave are different from the virus that spread in 2020 and are proving to be far more transmissible. This is why we are emphasising on personal safety measures, such as masking, hand sanitising and social distancing,” the Lt. Governor said.
