Rising COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra have become a cause for concern

The steadily increasing cases of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, which reported more than 15,000 new cases and accounted for more than 60% of active cases in the country, have led to the rapid spread of infection in Bidar, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Belagavi districts. Posed a serious threat. He shares a border with this state.

After a prolonged stay, these districts have seen a spurt in cases in the last 10 days. For example, Kalburgi has been reporting double-digit positive cases since the first day of March. It registered 37 new cases on Wednesday and 35 new cases on Saturday, taking the number of active cases in the district to 277.

To check the spread of the virus, the administration in the border districts has tightened prevention measures, including setting up checkpoints on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border to ensure that those who have COVID-19 negative reports in the state. To enter. .

Mobile squads

“Kalaburagi district is reporting an average of 35 cases per day for 10 days. We have formed four mobile squads with health, police and civilian personnel and deployed them at various locations. These mobile clinics are visiting areas where positive cases have been reported and preventive measures have been implemented, including the separation of primary and secondary contacts of infected individuals after collecting samples of their throat swabs. We have set up a check-post at Kalaburagi railway station to ensure that only COVID-19 negative reports have been filed in the city, “Rajasekhar Mali, District Health and Family Welfare Officer, told Hindu

Northeast Karnataka Road Transport Corporation has suspended indefinite bus services to Maharashtra. According to state-owned transport corporation sources, there were 60 buses plying daily between different cities of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Kalaburgi Deputy Commissioner Vijaya Jyotsna has imposed an indefinite injunction under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to ban crowds, festivals and Orai across the district to avoid gathering of crowds Can be applied. She is holding officials’ meetings every evening so that preventive measures in place can be closely monitored.

Increased test

Changes have occurred in Belagavi and Vijayapura districts due to increase in cases in Maharashtra. These include increased targets of daily testing, detection of exposure to positive cases, implementation of guidelines for public works and boundary checks.

Officials in Belagavi said the health department had targeted 3,000 trials in Belagavi and 2,000 in Vijayapura a day. Officers have been asked to trace 20 contacts of each positive person within 24 hours. They will be tested first. If they test positive, the 20 primary contacts of those individuals are tested again. Officials said contact tracing has started since Sunday.

However, according to some officials, the border is not being rigorously investigated. The severity of the investigation on the four borders in Belagavi and two in Vijayapur has reduced, he says.

The main reason is that people are not as afraid of COVID-19 as they were. Secondly, the investigation of each vehicle takes time and causes traffic jams on the highways. A health department official said that thirdly, two-wheelers and other small vehicles are using cord roads to enter the state. The government has re-enforced the ban on crowds during public works. The crowd limit is 500 for outdoor works and 200 for indoor works. For family functions and observations such as cremation and death anniversary, the number is 100 for outdoor and 50 for indoor functions. “We are taking adequate precautions and following the State SOP. The increase in the number of cases in Belagavi is not much. We have investigated zero to 15 cases in the last few weeks when the Maharashtra spike was reported, “M. .Harimanth, Deputy Commissioner