The district has become ‘COVID-19 free’ for the present with the discharge of the last two patients who were under institutional quarantine, on Friday.
There are no COVID-19 positive cases in Mysuru as on date and Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar thanked the doctors and paramedical staff besides the general public for their efforts in containing the spread of the pandemic. “This is no time for celebration but calls for renewed vigour and alert’’, he said pointing out that other districts which were in the green zone are now classified under red zone due to the sudden spike in the cases.
In all, Mysuru had reported 90 COVID-19 positive cases and all the patients have been discharged on completion of the quarantine and testing negative. The first case was detected on March 21 and the patient (P20) was discharged on April 7.
But from then on it turned out to be a herculean battle for the authorities who braced to prevent a community outbreak that threatened to engulf the district with Nanjangud emerging as a major cluster. Of the 90 COVID-19 cases reported in the district, 74 were from Nanjangud’s Jubilant Generics plant and at one point of time in April, Mysuru had the dubious distinction of having the highest number of positive cases in Karnataka.
But strict enforcement of containment measures and timely contact tracing ensured that there was no community spread. Though the restrictions owing to lockdown has been relaxed across the city and the district, the authorities said the norms pertaining to social distancing, use of sanitizers and wearing of masks have to be complied with and people will be penalised in case they are found not wearing masks.
In Nanjangud where nearly 70,000 people are under strict lockdown to contain the spread of the virus, the number of containment zones came down from 14 to 11 on Friday.
Mr. Sankar said in case of people returning from other States or districts, institutional quarantine was mandatory for all except for those severely ill or pregnancy cases for which home quarantine was allowed. As on Thursday there were 568 people under institutional quarantine in Mysuru and all their samples have been collected for testing.
Minister for Medical Education K. Sudhakar took to Twitter to congratulate the district administration and for Mysuru’s remarkable turnaround. “Glad to inform that all 90 COVID-19 positive patients in Mysuru district hospital have recovered. Thanks to doctors, nurses and all corona warriors who worked tirelessly to make this possible. With people support, we can win this fight against corona’’, he said.
