Home kits for Covid-19 patients in Bengaluru south: Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka

Covid-19 patients in home isolation in the Bengaluru south municipal zone will get a kit comprising essentials delivered to them, Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka said on Friday.

“Each kit will have medicines, enough number of cloth masks for all members of that house to last 14 days, a pulse oximeter, sanitiser and thermometer,” said Ashoka, who is the minister in charge of the south zone.

Ashoka said this after a meeting that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa chaired to review the Covid-19 situation in the south zone, which is home to 26% of all the city’s cases.

The south zone has 44 municipal wards.

CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE ONLY ON DH

Ashoka said he had directed BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad to make sure Rs 20 lakh earmarked for Covid-19 in every ward to be utilised for the home kits. "The joint commissioner will purchase these kits. A detailed order will be issued," he said.

The meeting also discussed the closure of the KR Market and the Kalasipalyam market.

“These are two big markets in Chickpet, which is a sensitive area where the highest number of deaths have occurred. We’ve requested that these two markets should not be opened,” Ashoka said.

Eight hospitals in Bengaluru South that have not given beds for Covid-19 treatment will be served with notices on Saturday, he said.

Ashoka also pitched for incentivising hospitals that provide all their beds for Covid-19 treatment. “I have requested the chief minister that such hospitals should get an exemption from paying municipal taxes for the whole year. The chief minister said it was a good suggestion. He will decide,” he said.

At the booth level, 10 volunteers will be made available to help deal with Covid-19, Ashoka said.

According to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office, Yediyurappa directed south zone authorities to admit asymptomatic patients at the Covid Care Centre at Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).