As the number of COVID-19 cases surge massively in India, Health Ministry has said that it has begun contact tracing of people who were found at various congregations. This preemptive measure would help contain the formation of new clusters as the government has already identified 10 hotspots in the country. Complete Coverage: Coronavirus
Crux of the Matter
Hotspots in India Joint Secretary of the Health Ministry, Lav Agarwal said that the number of cases in India have been rising because people are not co-operating to the lockdown and other preventive measures, and due to the delay in the detection of cases. As of now, the government has identified 10 hotspots in India. They include – Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhilwara in Rajasthan, Dilshad Garden and Nizamuddin in Delhi, Pathanamthitta and Kasargod in Kerala, Meerut and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
The Curious Case of Hotspot Delhi In Delhi’s Nizamuddin, nearly 1,800 people had gathered for a religious congregation – Tablighi Jamaat – at the Markaz building in late February and early March. As per authorities, clerics who arrived there from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand may have transmitted the virus. 6 people from Telangana and 1 each from New Delhi and Tamil Nadu, who attended the congregation, fell victim to COVID-19. On the other hand, migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and other states gathered in large numbers at Anand Vihar bus station of Delhi. DTC buses were dropping many to UP border while many were walking through the highway to cross the border. The government, in a strict notice, announced to seal the state borders, quarantine those who had already migrated, and urged migrant workers to stay where they are as they will be provided with food, shelter, and wages.
Contact Tracing The government is trying to track the attendees of Tablighi Jamaat. Nearly 850 people from Kashmir, 300 from Karnataka, 150 in Uttar Pradesh, 180 in Maharashtra, and others in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, etc. are being tracked by the government. Tamil Nadu Health Secretary informed that 67 people who attended the religious congregation had tested positive. Of the people who were traced, more than 400 people have been hospitalised as they showed symptoms. The state governments are tracing the people who attended the congregation and people who have had contact with them. Traced people are being put in quarantine. For instance, in Chhattisgarh, an urgent operation tracked nearly 100 people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet (TJ). All of them were instantly put in the quarantine facility or isolated at home. In Gujarat’s Bhavnagar, nearly 30% of the people residing in the area near the deceased, who had attended TJ, have been quarantined. However, many people have remained untraced as their mobile phones have been switched off. Police is trying to locate their addresses. The recent rise in the number of cases in India can be attributed to such congregations. Tamil Nadu became the state with the third-highest cases after 67 new cases associated with the Markaz congregation were found. Moreover, people who were part of congregations pose an immense threat to stem Coronavirus in India. On 31st March 2020, India reported the largest hike, 270 cases, taking the toll to more than 1,500. So far 45 deaths have been reported – with ~3% fatality rate. Maharashtra has the highest number of cases followed by Kerala.
Curiopedia
Contact tracing is the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person (“contacts”) and subsequent collection of further information about these contacts. By tracing the contacts of infected individuals, testing them for infection, treating the infected and tracing their contacts in turn, public health aims to reduce infections in the population. The goals of contact tracing are:
To interrupt ongoing transmission and reduce spread of an infection
To alert contacts to the possibility of infection and offer preventive counseling or prophylactic care
To offer diagnosis, counseling and treatment to already infected individuals
If the infection is treatable, to help prevent reinfection of the originally infected patient
To learn about the epidemiology of a disease in a particular population More Info
The cluster containment strategy would be to contain the disease within a defined geographic area by early detection, breaking the chain of transmission and thus preventing its spread to new areas. This would include geographic quarantine, social distancing measures, enhanced active surveillance, testing all suspected cases, isolation of cases, home quarantine of contacts, social mobilization to follow preventive public health measures. More Info
Curated Coverage
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