Ramp up testing and increase surveillance on migrants, suggest experts
LUCKNOW: There is an urgent need for aggressive surveillance on the influx of migrants and other people into the city and ramping up testing to contain the surge in the number of hot spots in Lucknow, said medical experts.
“As the number of cases and containment zones rise in Lucknow, testing needs to be ramped up coupled with aggressive surveillance on people’s movement and contact tracing,” said Dr Ashish Singh of SKD Hospital.
He added, “We will have to think about the strategy on movement of migrants. It’s not necessary that they all go back to rural areas.
In fact, 30% of the migrants are returning to cities. Almost 90% of the recent corona cases reported in Lucknow account for migrants in urban areas. So, we need a surveillance system for migrants in cities too.” “Lucknow’s average testing per million population is much lower than that of Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Chandigarh. We have not even tested 15,000 people out of a population of 40 lakh. So, we don’t know about asymptomatic carriers,” said Dr PK Gupta of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
He added, “The high rate of infection among health care workers is also a serious issue. Doctors and nurses have been affected by the virus, which indicates poor infection prevention practices in health care settings. This needs to be attended to on priority.”
District administration officials said there is good health infrastructure, along with better clinical management of Covid-19 and that’s why the fatality rate is lower here when compared to other cities. District magistrate Abhishek Prakash said, “The administration and health department are on alert and information system about patients is being strengthened further in containment zones.” “The administration took no time in cordoning off an apartment in New Hyderabad area after a corona case was found. We are also testing aggressively in containment zones and that’s why infection was controlled in densely populated areas like Qaiserbagh,” he said.
He said unlike other states bed availability is not a problem in Lucknow.
A doctor of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) said, “Fortunately, community transmission has not started in Lucknow. But after reopening of markets around containment zones, there is a big chance of a lot of people getting infected in that area. Therefore, proper sanitisation and social distancing is very important at places like Sabzi Mandi or street markets near containment zones.”
“Unlock 1 is an important phase. But relaxation of mobility restrictions combined with public’s negligence in following social distancing guidelines could prove detrimental. So there is need to involve corporators and mohalla samitis for proper surveillance of cases in containment zones,” said Dr Rakesh Kapoor of Medanta Hospital.