K’taka floods: Health minister asks officials to brace for Covid, communicable diseases

Bengaluru, Oct 19 : In the wake of floods across as many as 10 districts of the north-Karnataka region, Karnataka Health and family welfare minister, K. Sudhakar on Monday directed the state government officials to take immediate steps to contain the spread of communicable diseases in flood-prone areas.
Kalaburagi and Vijaypura are the worst affected districts as several villages in these districts are submerged due to this the state government has evacuated several people to safer places.
In Kalaburagi more than 150 villages have partially submerged in water and people of 50 villages have been shifted to safer places and a total of 23,250 people were evacuated to government relief-care centres here.
While in Vijayapiura district, as many as 27 villages are affected as many as 1861 people in this district were evacuated to care centres.
Kalaburagi is 561 kms and Vijayapura 521 kms away from Bengaluru respectively. Both districts are located in the uppermost part of the north-Karnataka region.
At a review meeting with DCs, ZP CEOs and DHOs of Bagalakote, Vijayapura, Kalburgi, Yadagiri, Koppala and Belagavi through video conference, Sudhakar warned the officials of flood affected districts to ensure implementation of proper precautionary measures as there are chances of outbreak of various communicable diseases in these areas.