Pics: Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network -Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 13: Worried over the fast-spreading coronavirus infection and problems created to the general public, opposition city corporators under the leadership of the leader of the opposition in the city corporation council, Abdul Ravoof, approached the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district with a request to address the problems concerned on Monday July 13.

The corporators through a memorandum, drew the attention of the deputy commissioner to the fact that the rate at which new coronavirus cases are emerging in the district has gone up sharply. "Of late, we are seeing over 150 new cases every day. The number of infected persons in the district has crossed 7,000. About 41 have lost their lives. The officials have not been able to find out the source of the infection. The situation has become serious and there is a need to consider the repercussions of the situation deeply," they stated.

The corporators said that doctors of KMC hospital have opined that there will be shortage of beds even after taking into account private hospitals, if the situation continues in this way. "Staff of the testing laboratories are getting infected, and in the coming days, the possibility of the reports getting further delayed cannot be ruled out. The general public are not realizing the seriousness of the situation and have been openly roaming around without wearing masks. Therefore, we suggest you to clamp lockdown in the city and the entire district so that the spread of the disease can be controlled at least to some extent," the leaders said.

The opposition corporators also said that it has come to light that private hospitals in the city have been collecting excessive charges that are much more than the one fixed by the government for treating coronavirus patients. They have urged the deputy commissioner to take steps to stop this daylight robbery.

Many leaders of the Congress and city corporators were present.