New criteria for containment zones

Ward to be declared restricted area if 10 or more houses report COVID cases

The Wayanad District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has decided to revise the criteria for declaring containment zones in a civic bodies in the wake of the accelerating COVID-19 positive cases. Accordingly, a ward would be declared as containment zone if positive cases are reported in 10 or more houses a ward, District Collector Adeela Abdulla said. The medical officer of the civic body should give a proposal to the secretary of the body and the secretary, in turn, should submit it to the Collector through the COVID portal, Ms. Abdulla, who is also the chairperson of the DDMA, said. “If more than half of the total wards of a grama panchayat are declared as containment zones, the entire civic body will be declared as a containment zone,” Ms. Abdulla added.