With the number of COVID-19 cases in Kasargod in Kerala witnessing a steep increase, Kannur district that borders Kasargod to the south has also upped vigil.

According to a police officer on the border areas of Kannur, the police have put up barricades in all roads from Kasargod to Kannur and strict screening of persons entering Kannur from Kasargod was being done. Only those with genuine medical reasons were being allowed to enter Kannur from Kasargod district, he said.

The people of Kasargod, where 128 COVID-19 cases were reported so far, were literally struggling even for emergency medical needs after neigbouring Mangaluru in Karnataka shut the border roads for emergency medical needs. People of Kasargod mostly depend on Mangaluru for medical needs owing to a large number of medical facilities available there and easy accessibility than Kannur. In Kannur, there is only one major government medical college and some private hospitals.

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Police sources said that the people of Kannur were also quite vigilant against the movement of vehicles from Kasargod. A couple of days back, a speeding vehicle from Kasargod to Kannur that breached the police checking was reportedly stopped by a section of local people and roughed up the driver, who was said to have criminal track records.

At present out of the 128 COVID-19 infected persons hailing from Kasargod, 12 were admitted to Kannur medical college hospital. Apart from that, 44 others were undergoing treatment in Kannur with Covid infection.