Gzb to start surveillance, contact tracing within 12 hours in areas with high Covid caseload

The Ghaziabad district administration on Saturday initiated a plan -- Red Alert -- to deal with the high Covid-19 caseload in the residential segments of Carte, Raj Nagar, Indirapuram, Vasundhara, Vaishali and Sahibabad

The Ghaziabad district administration on Saturday initiated a plan -- Red Alert -- to deal with the high Covid-19 caseload in the residential segments of Carte, Raj Nagar, Indirapuram, Vasundhara, Vaishali and Sahibabad. The officials said they have devised a 12-point agenda, which they believe will help contain the virus spread.

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The high caseload areas were identified on the basis of total cases in the month of March and the two days of the current month. These areas -- Carte (90 cases in March), Raj Nagar (86 cases), Indirapuram (63 cases), Vasundhara (29 cases), Vaishali (51 cases) and Sahibabad (37 cases) -- reported 63% of the total 565 cases in the district the month of March.

In the first two days of April, Carte reported 14 Covid cases, Raj Nagar nine , Indirapuram 20, Sahibabad 17, Vasundhara 10, and Vaishali eight new cases.

“We have decided to fast-track surveillance measures, contact tracing and facility allocation in these areas. Our rapid response teams will visit these areas within 12 hours of each new case being reported and carry out their procedures. All protocols related to containment zones will be strictly enforced in these areas,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate, Ghaziabad.

According to the health department officials, once a person tests positive, the facility allocation is done generally within 24 hours and the next 48 hours are devoted to surveillance and contact tracing.

“In high case load areas, these activities will start within 12 hours and this will help in checking spread of infection,” said an official from the district health department.

The administration officials further said they will start extensive door-to-door survey in these areas and also step up testing of people with co-morbidities, senior citizens, pregnant women and people having Covid-like symptoms.

“We will also take up 100% contact tracing of each patient and they will also be given prophylactics. Besides, our teams will also get in touch with hospitals and chemist shops in these areas to get the details of patients having Covid-like symptoms,” Pandey further said.

According to the state control room figures of April 2, Ghaziabad district has seen a total of 27,396 Covid cases of which 355 are currently active cases. The virus death toll in the district is 102.