MADIKERI: Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Tuesday directed Kogadu Deputy Commissioner Annies K Joy to instruct homestays to accept guests only if they produce a Covid negative certificate obtained 76 hours prior to check-in. “If guests do not possess a corona test report, they should not be allowed to check-in,” Sudhakar said while chairing a review meeting. DC Joy informed the minister that the district’s mortality rate is lower than that of other districts.
The minister directed that the authorities bring down the fatality rate to below 1% from 1.5%, and the positivity rate to 5% from 16%. He also said the district must increase testing to about 500-600 samples a day. “The Covid testing lab must function 24x7,” Sudhakar said.
On the district’s medical infrastructure, the minister said, “Even government hospitals are not fully developed. The only service available is at Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences. There are instances when patients have had to visit neighbouring Mysuru or Mangaluru for better treatment. To prevent this, the government will improve the existing civil hospital for better service.” Other directions issued include shifting markets to large spaces, regular testing for merchants, observing Dasara in a simple manner.