Sector 30 emerges as UT’s 2nd biggest Covid hotspot
CHANDIGARH: After Bapu Dham Colony, Sector 30 has emerged as the second major Covid cluster in Chandigarh, accounting for nearly one-fifth (16) of the total 74 cases to date.
Nine cases, including the two that came to light on Wednesday night, have been reported here in the last four days. What makes authorities worried is the fact that all these cases have emerged in the EWS locality of the sector’s B block that stands entirely sealed now.
The locality’s 600 households are home to approximately 4,000 people living in multi-storey 2 marla houses. As many as eight houses between house numbers 1500 and 1680 have already been exposed to the virus.
While the test reports of several primary contacts of those found infected are awaited, the source of the spread is not fully known to the authorities. Some administrative officials indicate that the ground situation is akin to community transmission, but it has not been declared officially by the UT health department.
HOW VIRUS SPREAD
The first case reported from Sector 30B on March 28 was that of a Dubai-returned youth, who ended up infecting his mother and two friends living not far from his place.
Just when the authorities thought all his contacts had been tracked and screened, a 52-yearold woman — who lives in the lane behind the Dubai-returned youth’s house — came for checkup at the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH) in Sector 16 on April 17 after she had developed minor fever and cough. She was found to be Covid positive a day later. She had no travel history.
Three out of five of her family members tested positive a day later on April 19. However, no more sampling was done in the area even as 64 of the woman’s secondary contacts were home-quarantined.
For the next one week, no case was reported here. But on April 27, two of a family — a 41-year-old man and his 65-year-old mother — were found positive on April 27. Their house is located in front of the 52-year-old woman’s.
Five more cases from as many as four houses were found positive the very next day on April 28. This led the authorities to sample 15 of their primary contacts while putting in home-quarantine as many as 100 people. These cases, however, had no primary or secondary contacts with the earlier cases, nor were their locations anywhere nearby their houses.
The latest two cases reported on April 29 midnight were contacts of the mother-son duo that had tested positive on April 27.
SOME OFFICIALS SAY THE GROUND SITUATION IS AKIN TO COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION, BUT UT HEALTH DEPT HASN’T OFFICIALLY SAID SO
‘MASS TESTING NEEDED’
While UT health authorities claimed that these positive cases were the result of their intense screening on ground, Yadvinder Mehta, president of RWA-Block A (Sector 30B), said the screening was still not an effective way of dealing with the threat. “We want aggressive testing in the whole locality as there may be people who are either asymptomatic or have lied about their travel history,” he said.
Area councillor Devinder Singh Babla said he had approached the administration for aggressive testing but to no avail. Besides, supply of essentials was erratic and even those who needed immediate medical help like insulin injections had to wait for days. “Police enforcement, too, gets weaker by late evening, giving a chance to the people to come out of their homes,” he added.
While UT director health Dr G Dewan did not respond to repeated calls, UT administrator VP Singh Badnore during the daily review meeting on Thursday directed Dr Dewan to send medical teams to conduct intensive and extensive screening and testing in Bapu Dham Colony and Sector 30B, so that no suspected cases are left out.