• Single entry and exit point; 200 metres around COVID-19 positive person’s house sealed
• Essential supplies provided to doorsteps; disinfectants sprayed twice a day

Mysore/Mysuru: Nine areas inside Mysuru city where positive cases of Coronavirus are found have been declared as Cluster and Containment Zones or Red Zones. These Zones have been identified as Hotpots within Mysuru that has already been declared as a Hotspot in Karnataka.

The cluster containment strategy is to contain the disease within a defined geographic area by detecting cases in the nascent stage, breaking the chain of transmission and preventing its spread to new areas.

The containment strategy includes geographic quarantine, social distancing measures, enhanced active surveillance, testing all suspected cases, isolation of cases, quarantine of contacts and risk communication to create awareness among the public on preventive public health measures.

Some of the areas that have the Containment Zones in Mysuru city are Janatanagar, Kuvempunagar, Srirampura, two areas in J.P. Nagar, Meena Bazaar, Nazarbad, Vijayanagar First and Second stage. The containment zones have been barricaded with only a single point of entry and exit and a team comprising officials and staff from Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), City Police and Health Department are enforcing measures of Red Zone.

200 metres around house sealed

Over 200 metres of the area around the house of the COVID-19 positive patient is identified as Containment Zone and stringent measures have been put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19. The activities include banning the movement of people, delivery of all essentials to the doorstep of citizens.

The particular area will continue to remain as Containment zone until no COVID-19 positive case is reported for the next 28 days from the same area. All the primary and secondary contacts within the Containment Zone will strictly be under home quarantine.

As per the guidelines issued by the State Government and the MCC, if a COVID-19 positive case is found in an apartment complex, then the entire block or apartment tower will be declared a containment zone.

Incident Commanders

If it is a single block apartment, then the entire apartment complex will be declared as Containment Zone. Similarly, if the COVID-19 patient is found in an independent house or villa, the 100 metres radius area including the street on which the patient house is located will be declared as Containment Zone, the circular stated.

An Incident Commander has been appointed to monitor a particular containment area and the Commander has all magistrate powers to control the activities in the area. A command centre has been set up outside the containment areas with special squads to cater to the requirement of the people especially in providing emergency medical care. Special care will be ensured to the elderly, children and women living inside the Red Zones.

Essential supplies ensured

Essential supplies including vegetables, food, eatables, medicines, milk and other supplies are ensured to all houses including the quarantined houses based on their need and the command centres function 24/7 where officers and staff are working in shifts.

As per the directions, the Police have sealed the entire area geographically on a permanent basis by setting up barriers and check posts at the single entry and exit point. Officials told Star of Mysore that no person from the containment area shall be allowed to come out of the house and every Containment Zone will have only one entry and exit point. No private vehicle will be allowed to enter in or out of the area.

Outside a containment zone

At the Containment Zone established in Kuvempunagar near Suma Sopana Park, 13^th Cross that was visited by SOM this morning, all vehicles of essential supplies and people who supply essentials were seen being sanitised using sprays and disinfectants before they enter a particular road and after they exit from the single exit point.

Assistant Commissioner of MCC Zone 3 Shivanandamurthy is the Incident Commander. He is assisted by Development Officer P.S. Sathyamurthy and Health Inspector Prabhakar. They are closely supervised by MCC Health Officer Dr. D.G Nagaraj. Special Officer for COVID-19 in Mysuru Harsha Gupta is the overall in-charge and the other officers who have a say are Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar, MCC Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde, City Police Commissioner Chandragupta and Superintendent of Police C.B. Ryshyanth.

Inside a Containment Zone, health workers and MCC staff regularly visit each house to ascertain the health condition, food and medicine requirements and awareness is spread on containing the killer virus. In addition, disinfectants are sprayed in the entire area and houses twice a day to prevent air-borne virus.

Coco peat manure

As per the directions of Special Officer Harsha Gupta, since it is risky and tough for MCC Pourakarmikas to visit the houses inside the Containment Zones, coco peat (made out of coconut husk. The fibrous coconut husk is pre washed, machine dried, sieved and packed) have been provided to each house where the residents can convert the wet waste into compost for their gardens and pots. The dry waste will be collected by Pourakarmikas once a week, officers said.