Mysore/Mysuru: As per directions from the Central Government, the Mysuru District Administration, jointly with Health and Family Welfare Department, has launched a drive to conduct Thermal Screening of all those living in hotspot areas across the district since Apr.24.

A total of 28 areas, including 13 in city, have been declared as hotspots within the district that has already been identified as a COVID-19 hotspot.

To the many measures in place to check the spread of deadly COVID-19, door-to-door Thermal Screening has been added to curtail the pandemic at the root. A Health Department team, including Staff Nurse, equipped with thermal screening machines, gloves and masks, will visit every household to check if anyone is suffering from fever, cold and cough or other symptoms.

In the 200 metre Containment Zones or Red Zone that have already been sealed, Thermal Screening is done to all the family members of the positive patient and also all houses are covered in the screening that is done both in the morning and evening.

In the areas coming under Buffer Zone, that is areas coming in the 5-kilometre radius of the Containment Zones, vulnerable group (those with medical history including BP, sugar, kidney and heart problem and those aged above 60 years, pregnant women and women under post-natal care) is being thermal screened.

If a person has a temperature above 37.5 degree Celsius, he/ she will be referred to nearby Fever Clinic. In case of Containment Zone, ambulance will be arranged to take the person to the Fever Clinic for testing and in Buffer Zone, people should self-report to the Fever Clinic.

A total of 1,900 nurses, including 200 in city, have been appointed for the purpose. There is no scarcity of thermal screening machines as the district possesses 50 thermal screening machines and as of now one each has been given to 28 Containment Zones, said the District Epidemic Diseases Control Officer.

Containment Zones in Mysuru city include Gokulam, Jayalakshmipuram, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Nagar, Janatanagar, Kuvempunagar, Srirampura, two areas in J.P. Nagar, Meena Bazaar, Nazarbad, Vijayanagar First and Second Stages.

The Containment Zones have already been sealed 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 working in three shifts to enforce measures of Red Zone 24×7.