Hindustan Times (Amritsar)

Spurt in cases: Chandigarh admn’s containmen­t efforts come a cropper

- Munieswer A Sagar munieshwer.sagar@htlive.com ■

FROM 27 CASES ON APRIL 24, THE NUMBER HAS SWOLLEN TO 74 IN JUST SIX DAYS

CHANDIGARH: The UT administra­tion’s coronaviru­s disease (Covid-19) containmen­t efforts have come under scanner amid steep rise in cases in the last five days.

Even as the city has been under lockdown since March 24, infection has spread to newer areas. Chandigarh has been designated a red zone and containmen­t zone.

The initial spurt in positive cases in the city, first case being on March 18, came from foreign returned persons and their contacts.

After a lull of almost a week, the pattern changed, with healthcare workers from two public sector hospitals reporting positive.

In the last week, the infection spread to peripheral areas and colonies, particular­ly, Bapu Dham and Sector 30, taking the tally of positive cases from 27 on April 24 to 74 on April 30.

“In places like Mauli Jagran, people can be seen roaming freely on streets with no social distancing norms being followed. The administra­tion’s move to distribute cooked food also creates unnecessar­y crowding in these areas. It is a very alarming situation,” said Paveela Bali, a citybased social activist, who is actively distributi­ng ration in colonies.

In a recent incident of crowd mismanagem­ent, huge crowds of people thronged streets in Mauli Jagran when administra­tion officials came to distribute food. Even after repeated warnings, administra­tion has been slow to react and rectify the situation, critics say.

BELOW PAR TESTING

Experts say testing in the city is below par even as administra­tion contends it is following protocol.

Till Wednesday, Chandigarh reported 68 cases and tested only 1,013 people, while Mohali with 73 infections tested 1,411.

Panchkula, with only 18 cases, has tested 1,525 persons, highest in the tricity.

Chandigarh has an estimated population of 14 lakh, Panchkula 6.6 lakh and Mohali 10 lakh.

Dr RS Bedi, former president of Chandigarh’s Indian Medical Associatio­n and adviser, World Medical Associatio­n, said, “Today, after 36 days of lockdown, we are at a stage in Chandigarh where cases are still on the rise. Besides social distancing, we need to undertake aggressive and random testing throughout the city to locate infected people as cases are scattered.”

“We have to follow guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research for testing. More testing without following guidelines is not an achievemen­t,” a senior UT official said.

As many as 15 healthcare workers from PGIMER and GMCH-32 have tested positives so far, and some of their contacts have also been infected.

HEALTH WORKERS TESTING POSITIVE

But, what is more worrisome, is that nearly 75% of them were working in ‘emergency’ areas, dealing with non-Covid patients.

Experts blamed it on health authoritie­s’ delay in allowing provision of PPE kits to health workers working in emergency areas. “The authoritie­s should not hesitate in providing proper protection gear to the health workers, and this should have been done from the start,” said Dr Neeraj Nagpal, convener, Medicos Legal Action Group.

As per the central government’s guidelines for containmen­t zone, “active search for cases” has to be done.

Questions have been raised over administra­tion’s claims to have screened more than 9 lakh people. Facing flak, the health department even conceded that it is not screening per se, but only conducting survey.

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