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Covid surge: Chandigarh MC increases contact tracing staff to 100
Rapidly increasing coronavirus cases prompt Chandigarh municipal corporation to deploy more staff; teams also increased from 18 to 25
Ramping up contact tracing in the city, the municipal corporation has deployed more teams, increasing their members from 54 to 100.
From the earlier 18, now there are 25 teams, each comprising four members, that aim to trace 20 people per positive case assigned to them.
While this number is still lower than the 30 people per patient advocated by the Union government, MC has increased it from an average of six to 20 in a month amid the surging cases.
MC commissioner KK Yadav said, “Due to the high rate of new Covid cases, we have decided to add more people and teams for contact tracing.”
This is the third time in a span of one month that the MC has increased the number of teams and personnel deputed for contact tracing.
In mid-March, there were only three teams with 12 members. These were increased to nine with 27 members. But, with the second wave hitting the city hard, the teams were doubled to 18 and personnel increased to 54, and now to 25 and 100, respectively.
Meanwhile, the teams have been struggling to keep up with the multiplying cases. “Every day, we trace contacts of around 800 patients as the pending cases have been piling up,” said a member of one of the teams.
43 city areas get micro-containment tag
As many as 43 areas were notified as micro-containment zones in the city on Sunday. Over the last one month, the administration has declared around 250 such zones to check the spread of Covid-19 cases in the city.
Among the 43 areas, four are in Sector 35; three each in Sectors 46 and 50; and two each in Sectors 10, 21, 23, 32, 36, 48 and 49. Besides, one micro-containment zone each is in Sectors 8, 11, 15, 18, 31, 38, 41, 43, 51, 52, 63, Ram Darbar, Phase 1, and Darashano Bagh, Old Indira Colony, Pipliwala Town, Morigate and Modern Housing Complex – all in Manimajra.
