With 481 Covid-19 cases, Udupi on tenterhooks

MANGALURU: Udupi district’s war against Covid-19 has seemingly faltered after the government decided to reduce 14 days institutional quarantine to one week. What is more shocking is that a few people who tested positive for the disease have not yet been traced.
Udupi district, which was once lauded for successfully handling the pandemic, is now in the first place in the state for Covid-19 cases, with 564 total cases and 481 active cases.Interestingly, reports of recent cases detected were out after people had gone from institutional quarantine to home quarantine. As many as 1, 732 samples are yet to be tested as on Thursday. Till May 1, the district had only three positive cases.
“A majority of the cases detected recently, are people who had already gone home. Some of the people who tested positive are incommunicado, and there is possibility of community transmission of the disease because of them. This wouldn’t have happened if the government sent them home after arrival of sample test reports,” said a source working with the health department. Those whom the authorities are unable to contact had given incorrect details, said an official.
Ruling out community outbreak, G Jagadeesha, deputy commissioner, Udupi, is confident of the district’s preparedness to tackle the disease, in case there is community outbreak. “We have sent people into home quarantine, after seven days of institutional quarantine, as per MHA and state guidelines. One shouldn’t blame the district administration in this regard,” he said.
Due to people who have moved into home quarantine testing positive for Covid-19, it has created panic among residents, who stay close by. In Kallianpur, a person who recently returned from Dubai tested positive for Covid-19 while in home quarantine. “Now the entire apartment is sealed. It has caused fear in people living in the area,” said a neighbour.