In a new initiative to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, stickers will be pasted on the walls of the homes of those under home quarantine in Thiruvananthapuram from Friday.
State Minister Kadakampally Surendran said marking of the houses will help the health workers properly monitor those under quarantine.
"The aim is to ensure proper isolation of patients through house marking. The homes of those who are on isolation will have stickers with special serial numbers. It will also mark the start and end dates of the observation period and number of members in the house. This will enable health workers to monitor and deliver essential goods and services.”
The stickers have a unique serial number which would help speed up the delivery of essential services, he said.
Earlier in the day, Surendran said all the facilities in the call centres and psychological centres were functioning effectively.
“Community kitchens have stared functioning from Friday. Many organisations have come forward to help the corporation in taking forward the community kitchen," he told reporters.
The Minister said the state government has taken steps to tackle hoarding by traders and closed down three shops in Thiruvananthapuram.
Cases have also been registered against the shop owners, he said.
The Minister said those under quarantine would be supplied free provision kits from the nearest supermarket to their homes.
Many other places including Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mangaluru have also implemented house marking.
Health workers of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) started pasting stickers outside the apartments and houses of people who are home quarantined, a few days ago. GCC said that the stickers will be placed on the houses of the people who returned from abroad.
Even the Karnataka government published names and home addresses of those have returned from abroad, as many are breaking quarantine regulations. Stickers were also pasted outside the houses of the foreign returnees.
With PTI inputs