• Only one inter-district entry and exit point with health screening and vehicle checking kiosks
• Anechowkur Gate closed for movement of people but open for essential goods 
• Kerala COVID-19 positive truck driver’s contacts in K.R. Nagar, H.D. Kote test negative

Kushalnagar: Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar and Superintendent of Police C.B. Ryshyanth inspected the Mysuru-Kodagu check-post at Koppa in Kushalnagar this morning and oversaw the arrangements made there.

Kushalnagar (Koppa) is the lone check-post where travellers from Mysuru can enter Kodagu and people coming from Kodagu can enter Mysuru. All the other check-posts even at Anechowkur Gate have been closed for the movement of people. People from Dakshina Kannada can come to Mysuru via Sampaje check-post and reach Koppa Gate.

Only essential goods vehicles are allowed entry to Mysuru and Kodagu through the Anechowkur Gate. People can enter and exit Mysuru through the Koppa check-post and from Bettadapura check-post (towards Arkalgud and Hassan) and Bherya near K.R. Nagar (towards Chikkamagalur).

At Koppa, Bettadapura and Bherya, health of each individual is screened through thermal scanners and the inter-district one-time passes are checked and matched with individual and vehicle details.

As per the guidelines issued by the State Government, each district must have only one inter-district entry and exit point to enable health officials to screen the commuters. Passengers entering Mysuru from Kodagu and those exiting Mysuru to Kodagu are subjected to mandatory 14-day quarantine.

At the check-posts, there is self-reporting form verification, thermal scanning, categorisation and stamping. Seals with date are affixed on the upper palm of the commuters. Somwarpet Tahsildar Govindaraju is leading the checking operation at Koppa.

Speaking to the officials and the Police, both Abhiram Sankar and Ryshyanth asked the officers to ensure that no passenger is put to inconvenience. They suggested the officers to shift the existing check-post to another place to avoid rush and traffic jams.

Following complaints of inordinate delay, Ryshyanth took information from Kushalnagar Circle Inspector Mahesh and asked him to smoothen the operations. The DC said that a separate health screening unit will be set up in a suitable area beyond the Koppa check-post to ease traffic snarls and to minimise inconvenience.

Virus scare in K.R. Nagar and H.D. Kote

Interacting with reporters in K.R. Nagar, the DC revealed that there was Coronavirus scare in K.R. Nagar and H.D. Kote at a time when COVID-19 positive cases have come down from 90 to 8 in Mysuru with 79 patients getting cured.

A 52-year-old truck driver who returned from Chennai tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus) in Wayanad in Kerala on Saturday. He hails from Kurukkan Moola near Manandavadi. He had gone to a market at Koyambedu in Chennai on Apr. 18 and had returned to Wayanad on Apr. 26. He was later tested positive.

“This truck driver had come to Saalekoppa village near Chunchanakatte to transport cultivated ginger and he had come in contact with six persons. He later proceeded towards H.D. Kote again to buy ginger and came into contact with 10 other persons. The driver later went to Koyambedu Market at Chennai in Tamil Nadu, the epicentre of virus in that State where he would have contacted the virus,” the DC said.

Officials swing into action

As soon as the Mysuru District Administration got an alert from Wayanad authorities regarding the truck driver’s contact history, the health officials swung into action and quarantined the 6 persons in K.R. Nagar and 10 persons in H.D. Kote.

“All those in his primary contact list in K.R. Nagar and H.D. Kote have tested negative. It is clear for us that the truck driver was not infected on his arrival in K.R. Nagar. However the testing of only one person in his contact in K.R. Nagar remains to be conducted and the process is underway and there is nothing to panic,” the DC added.

A team of officials led by Circle Inspector P.K. Raju had rushed to the villages in the wee hours and had quarantined the suspects and had later taken them for tests. The team of officials included PSI Chetan, Taluk Health Officer Dr. Mahendrappa, Health Inspector K.V. Ramesh and Junior Assistant Praveen. There was considerable anxiety in K.R. Nagar over villagers being taken for tests in ambulances.