Udupi: There will be total lockdown in 16 gram panchayats in the district from Wednesday for reporting more Covid-19 cases.

"About 16 gram panchayats that have recorded over 50 cases will go for complete lockdown from Wednesday," deputy commissioner G Jagadeesha said.

The district has 40 containment zones. The remaining 24 gram panchayats have reported less than 50 cases due to the stringent measures.

The DC said that the expert team had advised the district administration to tackle the third wave of Covid-19. As of now only 3,500 children were affected during the second wave. There was no severity among them. The district administration was preparing for the third wave of covid-19. "The administration is also planning to set up oxygen generation plants to avoid shortage of oxygen. Although there are 1,200 odd oxygen supported beds, only 350 can be used due to non availability of oxygen," he said.