How this tiny village in Karnataka brought down its Covid caseload to zero

KEY STORY

• A gram panchayat in remote Yellapur taluk, Mavina Mane, has shown how to tackle the ongoing Covid crisis by ensuring social distancing and adherence to lockdown norms. The panchayat that had over a 100 cases is now free from Covid.

• Impressed over this, district in-charge minister Shivaram Hebbar on Wednesday personally visited the panchayat and congratulated the authorities.

• A tiny panchayat with just seven villages, Mavina Mane is a classic example of finding its own way forward without waiting for any assistance. The remote village nestled n the Western Ghats has shown how adherence to social distancing and helping each other can keep the pandemic at bay.

  “If I go to Bengaluru from Uttarakhand Kannada, not a single toll booth or Checkpost will stop me, but in this gram panchayat, I was asked to stop six times. This is how they strictly follow the lockdown rules,” Hebbar told The New Indian Express, further adding that if all the villages strictly adhere to the Covid 19 norms and help themselves, there will be very less burden on the Government. 

• Though the panchayat hardly has 500 houses, the pandemic here was severe with 108 cases. Even as the second wave hit, there were 15 residents who tested positive for covid.

• The villagers were shocked as they had managed to keep the pandemic away during the first wave. “After a wedding in Malavalli village, 15 guests developed symptoms on April 19. The numbers soon swelled to 108,” informed Gopal Krishna Hedge, a member of the task force here.

• Without wasting any time, the panchayat swing into action and formed a task force with its own people to ensure that the disease did not spread.

  “The task force fixed several check posts so that people will not be able to take out their vehicles and outsiders will not enter their village unless there is an emergency. The Mavina Mane Sahakara Sea Sangha, a cooperative society and a few donors came together to ensure that groceries and other essential commodities are supplied to every household in the villages so the no one needs to step out. The PDOs, health department staff and others were reigned in to ensure medical aid, testing and regular monitoring of the patients,” informed Panchayat President.

CONCLUSION

• Asha workers, Anganwadi workers and some health department staff regularly visited houses almost everyday to check oxygen levels, temperatures and if anyone has any covid-related symptoms.

• With a hundred patients already cured, the last eight persons are already on the path of recovery and have been declared completely recovered. The Panchayat has now been declared as Covid-free for now.