Delhi ‘super spreaders’ a major challenge for Haryana in Covid fight
IMPORTED INFECTION Several infected veggie traders, commission agents in Jhajjar, Sonepat had Delhi travel history
CHANDIGARH: Delhi is the topmost city across the country responsible for the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in neighbouring Haryana, particularly in the national capital region (NCR) districts of the state.
Back and forth movement of a large section of population between Haryana’s NCR districts and the national capital for professional and personal reasons is the cause behind the spread of disease, officials said.
State-wise travel history data and source of infection statistics show that 431 individuals who tested positive for coronavirus in Haryana had contracted the disease in Delhi.
In comparison, 89 people found infected in the state had sourced the contagion from Maharashtra, 51 from Uttar Pradesh and 15 from Gujarat.
The transmission of virus from the national capital had also forced the state government to restrict the interstate movement between Haryana and Delhi.
Health department officials said the information about the antecedents and travel history of the Delhi patients was established after questioning them.
“The primary and secondary contacts of the infected individuals in Haryana were traced, tested and quarantined. It is a big number in terms of contagion spreaders who infected multiple persons in the state. Then it becomes a chain of infection,” said a health official.
Officials said there were several contagion spreaders having the national capital links, which could not be identified due to various reasons.
“Many Delhi residents who have extended families or relatives in Haryana got themselves tested in the state. They couldn’t be counted as Delhi residents because they furnished local addresses. Then there were Delhi-based patients who got tested at private labs in Haryana and furnished incorrect addresses,” said an official monitoring the NCR situation.
In fact, many Delhi private labs which had tested samples of such floating populations failed to communicate the results to the state authorities.
Health officials said that a number of vegetable traders, commission agents and workforce detected positive in Jhajjar and Sonepat had also carried the virus from Delhi.
POSITIVITY RATE HIGHER IN NCR DISTRICTS
While Haryana’s ten districts have a sample positivity rate of less than 2%, a desirable value as per the parameters of the Union ministry of health, the three NCR districts of Faridabad, Gurugram and Sonepat accounting for more than 68% of the active cases have more than 6% positivity rate, a critical value as per the health ministry parameters.
Faridabad has a positivity rate of 15.6%, followed by Gurugram (13.4%) and Sonepat (6.6%). Bhiwani with a sample positivity rate of 5.9% and Rewari at 5.8% are on the verge of breaching the 6% mark.
CONTACT-TRACING ALGORITHM
The state health officials have put into effect an elaborate contact-tracing algorithm for the infected individuals. Once an individual is suspected of carrying the infection, the process starts with testing the suspect, tracking his travel history and movement, identifying his high and low-risk contacts, testing and putting them under quarantine and further investigating the primary and secondary contacts of these high and low-risk contacts.