Contacts of 82% positive cases traced in Ggm district
GURUGRAM: The district health department has achieved contact tracing of nearly 82% of Covid-19 positive cases in the city, up from 50% about two weeks ago, according to state government data.
Health officials said investigation of positive cases improved in the last two weeks in the district, increasing from 50% to more than the desirable limit of 80%. The overall contact tracing percentage for Haryana is 88%.
By August 2, contacts of 7,559 Covid-19 patients were traced in Gurugram while those of 1,700 are yet to be located, the data shows.
“Contact tracing has remarkably improved in the last two weeks. It was nearly 50%, which has now exceeded to 82%. It is above the desirable limit of 80%. Thorough contact tracing and testing is a part of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines,” Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, said.
The official said the curve had flattened in Gurugram due to aggressive testing and contact tracing. The city on Monday reported 43 positive cases. The total count of confirmed cases is now 9,288, out of which 826 are active and 8,338 have recovered. The Covid-19 death toll stands at 124.
Contact tracing, a crucial public health strategy, involves health staff interviewing confirmed Covid-19 positive patients and find out others who have been in contact with them.
In case there is a possibility of exposure, the health team asks the contacts to quarantine for almost a week. “In case the patient has symptoms or is a high-risk contact with underlining health conditions such as hypertension or diabetes, then their nasal swabs are taken for the antigen detection test or Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test. Our ASHAs and ANMs reach out to the contacts who have been exposed and give them instructions about the possible symptoms and the measures to be adopted for safety,” said Dr Hardeep Kaur Saluja, medical officer, Primary Health Care Centre, Tigra.
According to the district epidemiologist, the situation improved after the team switched from paper forms to mobile applications for collect
ing details for contact tracing.
“The process is streamlined as details of contacts are collected through a mobile application for the department’s internal use. The ground team can directly upload the details of the person who has been in contact with an already infected person. It makes verification process easy as suspected cases can be easily contacted and isolated,” said Ram Prakash, epidemiologist, district health department.
COMPLETE CONTACT TRACING Others districts such as Sonepat,
Fatehabad and Kurukshetra are also conducting more than 80% contact tracing of positive cases. Districts such as Palwal, Panchkula, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak and Sirsa are conducting investigation in nearly 71% -77% of positive Covid-19 cases.
Faridabad and Charkhi Dadri are doing 100% contact tracing, according to the state data. Experts, however, question this claim.
“Contact tracing helps in early detection of cases. But it is not possible to have 100% contact tracing because there are chances of wrong addresses or delayed sampling. It can maximum exceed up to 95%. Complete contact tracing is possible if there cases are on the lower side,” said Ram Prakash.
Lalit Kant, scientist and former head of epidemiology and communicable diseases, ICMR, said, “Theoretically, 100% contact tracing is possible but it depends upon the infrastructure available, workforce and the way it is being conducted. It is seen that an infected person can transmit the virus to at least 10 people. If all the suspected cases are covered, then the infectivity curve should flatten. The case load should show stagnation and decline.”
Faridabad has the highest number of active cases and Covid-19 death toll.
Out of the 9,002 cases there, 1,174 are active while 7,694 have recovered. The death count stands at 134. Health officials of Faridabad were unavailable for a comment.