Complete lockdown in Dakshina Kannada to continue on Sunday

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, March 28, 2020: No positive case has been reported in Dakshina Kannada today, but the complete lockdown will continue on Sunday as a precautionary measure. District was going in for a complete lockdown for the second day as the neighbouring districts Kasaragod and Uttar Kannada has reported coronavirus positive cases on Saturday, March 28.

On Saturday, 94 people were screened in Dakshina Kannada and 25 samples were sent for test. Results of 15 samples were received on Friday of which all emerged negative.

Addressing media on Saturday, district in-charge minister Kota Srinivas Poojary, said that the lockdown in Mangaluru will continue even on Sunday. Milk parlours, pharmacies, petrol pumps and transportation of essential commodities will not be effected.

KSRTC in a tweet has alerted passengers of a Mangaluru-bound bus from Bengaluru to test themselves for coronavirus infection after a passenger of the said bus tested positive for COVID-19 travelled on on 21st March 2020 at 4.30pm (bus No.KA-19F 3329).

Dakshina Kannada observed a complete lockdown on Saturday with the district administration withdrawing permission given for the sale and purchase of essential commodities from 6 a.m. to noon, after two new positive cases were reported in the district on Friday.

Some milk booths in the city and other towns in the district sold packets for some time early in the morning. Later they closed down.

Hence, milk vans of Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Union Ltd. (DKMUL) had to return from many towns in the district and places in the city to its dairy in Kulashekara in the city.

All vegetable and grocery shops, which otherwise operated from 6 a.m. to noon, remained closed. The main central market in the city wore a deserted look.

A meeting, chaired by Kota Srinivasa Poojary and attended, among others, by Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP and MLAs, decided late on Friday to impose a complete lockdown across Dakshina Kannada citing a spurt in COVID-19 cases in neighbouring Kasaragod and also in Dakshina Kannada on Friday.

Since the communication on the complete lockdown to the media came late there was no clarity whether medical shops, banks and milk booths would be allowed to function.

The district administration did not clarify on the same till late in the night. Hence, some medical shops did not open on Saturday.

Raviraj Hegde, president, DKMUL, said that despite showing identity cards several milk vendors were not allowed to open their shops by police across the district.

In some places police asked them not to open their outlets on Sunday too. Hence, 1.8 lakh litres of milk were returned to the dairy.

Infosys Foundation sent critical medical supplies worth Rs.28 lakh to Dakshina Kannada to tackle COVID-19, according to P.S. Harsha, Police Commissioner, Mangaluru.

The vehicle carrying the medical supplies reached Manngaluru on March 28, he tweeted on Saturday.

“Ms. Sudha Murthy responded to the call of Mangaluru Police on behalf of Dakshina Kannada district administration and within 36 hours critical medical supplies worth Rs. 28 lakhs have reached Mangaluru. We thank Madam Sudha Murthy and Infosys Foundation’s Ramdas Kamat and team,” the Commissioner tweeted.

Inputs from The Hindu