Special committees to check the spread of coronavirus in Visakhapatnam

The Visakhapatnam District Collector, V Vinay Chand (IAS), held a video conference on Monday with the Joint Collectors, RDOs, Tahsildars, MPDOs, zonal officials and special zonal officials. He requested the officials to take strict measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. The Collector also said that the Andhra Pradesh State Government has issued directives (GO 207) to the State Government officials that need to be followed.

There is a need for a team of Revenue, Medical, Municipal and Police Officers in all rural and urban wards. For this purpose, the Trishabhya Committee, consisting of Tahsildar, MPDO, and SHO, should be constituted and supervised in the respective zones. In village panchayats, the panchayat secretaries were appointed as village level special officers. The VRO, ANM, grama ward volunteers, home guards or beat constables shall form committees, of up to five members, in the village panchayats and wards.

In a bid to halt the spread of coronavirus, the teams must ensure that the people arriving from abroad, within their respective areas, be monitored from time to time in Visakhapatnam. These travellers need to be kept under the mandatory fourteen-day home isolation. Similarly, people from other states should also be told to stay in-home quarantine.  It has come to the Collector’s notice that people who need to self-quarantine are leaving home without completing the proper home isolation requirement.

Special arrangements have been made at the Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) Hospital to ensure that home isolation is compatible with the homes where they reside. Similarly, if anyone has fever, sore throat, shortness of breath and dryness, they should be identified as a suspected case and taken to the allocated isolation Hospital. The authorities also have to carry out tests on their family members. A team of zonal and panchayat officials must visit each house, in the respective villages, on a daily basis and prepared a report. This has to be submitted to the Sub Collector at 4.30 pm every day.

Visakhapatnam Collector stated that Section 144 must comply throughout the district. Police personnel must take adequate measures to prevent people from standing in groups. No shops, except those selling essential commodities and groceries, should be open at all.