Thiruvananthapuram: Local self-government bodies including panchayats and municipalities were at the forefront of the COVID-19 fight in its first wave last year along with the Kerala health department and the police. Civic authorities were engaged in contacting the sick and their contacts, organising community kitchens, setting up COVID-19 First-line Treatment Centres (CFLTCs) and the like. As the second wave of the pandemic has commenced the civic bodies are again reviving or stepping up efforts aimed at infection control and prevention.
The state government has directed the president/chairpersons of local bodies to identify people in the priority category who are yet to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The respective ward-level committees would be engaged for the task. The local bodies plan to collect information about such persons with the help of anganwadi workers and encourage them to come and seek vaccine.
The civic bodies where emergency governing council meetings have not taken place yet for finalisng the measures related to infection control and prevention have been directed to convene such meetings at the earliest and finalise the implementation strategy.
Performance audit units will conduct inspection to find out if the panchayats and their ward- level committees are active and functional.
CFLTCs will be set up for asymptomatic Covid patients in consultation with the collectors. Though the government was a bit hesitant on opening CFLTCs in the initial stage of the second wave, now it is in favour of starting them. The CFLTCs opened during the first wave had stopped functioning.
The government has also directed the authorities to strictly enforce Covid safety protocol in labour camps besides asking them to implement decisions related to removal of waste from Covid treatment centres.
The direction was given at an online meeting convened by health minister K K Shailaja and local bodies minister A C Moideen. Since Shailaja has gone into quarantine, the meeting on Tuesday was chaired by Moideen.
53 test positive, police training centre shut
As many as 53 persons have been tested positive for COVID-19 at the Kerala Police Academy at Ramavarmapuram in Thrissur. The authorities have decided to shut the academy temporarily.
Many police personnel who returned from election duty in various places are suspected to be infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Earlier in September too the training centre was in the grip of the viral disease. At that time 200 persons had tested positive.
