Honorable Mayor Taylor and Council Members: Knowing how passionate you are in being a friend and sister city to KOCHI, INDIA, with international bounds that help make both cities strong, you may find the update below, dated March 22, 2020 of interest. Keeping in touch with our Sister Cities is one of the fundamental purposes of the contractual arrangement with one another. People helping People, makes us all stronger. This is a time in our history that we don't take these relationships for granted, instead, to express and demonstrate the love that only sisters can find in one another. President Dwight D. Eisenhaurer started this program of connecting international cities togethert over 60 years ago, in which nearly 2,000 cities worldwide have particapated in. It makes me proud that Menlo Park is one of them. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Coronavirus in Kochi: 64 buildings identified for setting up isolation wards TNN | Mar 22, 2020, 10.38 AM IST [Coronavirus in Kochi: 64 buildings identified for setting up isolation wards] KOCHI: The district administration has identified 64 buildings that could be converted into isolation facilities if need arises in the coming days in the wake of Covid-19. Coronavirus outbreak live updates https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/coronavirus-in-india-live-updates-janta-curfew-in-mumbai-delhi-bengaluru-chennai-hyderabad/liveblog/74754826.cms > The buildings, situated at various places in Ernakulam, include hotels, hostels, apartments and old structures. The administration is mostly looking for hotels and hostels since there will be large rooms and adequate water supply. District collector S Suhas had invoked disaster management act and had asked the Ernakulam district police chief and city police commissioner to take over buildings suitable for converting into isolation wards. So far, 64 buildings comprising around 1,900 rooms have been identified. "When need arises, we will accommodate people who require isolation in these buildings spread across the district. When we develop a building as corona care centre, we have to provide sufficient medical staff. The decision will be taken by ensuring the safety of the medical staff. We have to be prepared in case the number of cases increases or provide beds for other patients. This is a precautionary measure. It's is an emergency situation and we expect people in Kochi to cooperate. Besides, there will not be any issue regarding water or electricity supply in these buildings as the district collector can issue an order to the agencies concerned for taking necessary steps," said Fort Kochi sub-collector Snehil Kumar Singh. On Saturday, 1,162 more people were put under home isolation. Currently, there are total 3,451 people in home quarantine and 23 at isolation wards in Kalamassery medical college and Muvattupuzha general hospital. Passengers and crew members of four ships that reached Cochin Port were also screened. A total of 514 passengers and 198 crew members were screened and none had any symptoms of Covid-19. The district control room received 415 calls from Friday night to 9am on Saturday. Functioning of online web portal C-tracker has also been started in the district. Health workers functioning at the ground level can report and record the details on the portal developed by district surveillance team. Received on Fri Mar 27 2020 - 15:10:20 PDT
