Delhi to use digital maps to spot areas with isolated Covid-19 cases

Once the locations concerning isolated Covid-19 cases are identified, the district officials – under a government order issued last week – will create a databases of high-risk individuals and special surveillance groups in those areas.

The Delhi government has engaged geospatial mapping tools to locate areas that recorded isolated Covid-19 cases, a senior government official said on Sunday.

A health worker in PPE coveralls while serving food to Covid-19 patients housed at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex which is a temporary coronavirus care centre at Patparganj in New Delhi on Sunday. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT Photo)

Geospatial mapping involves creating maps of an area and plotting required data- in this case isolated cases. This will provide information to the administration to understand spatial patterns and relationships.

The Delhi government has engaged its company Geospatial Delhi Limited (GSDL) for the purpose. Similar mapping exercises had earlier helped the district officials in identifying Covid clusters and zonal allocation of home isolation cases, said the senior Delhi government official.

“Effective steps are being taken to identify localities which recorded isolated Covid cases, in adherence to guidelines issued by the government. Use of technology will ensure more accuracy in this regard,” said Delhi’s chief secretary Vijay Dev.

Once the locations concerning isolated Covid-19 cases are identified, the district officials – under a government order issued last week – will create a databases of high-risk individuals and special surveillance groups in those areas. “These are areas in which cluster cases were never recorded and was not sealed as containment zones. Now, since the Covid-19 situation is slightly under control, the surveillance strategy can be expanded to cover such areas that record isolated cases,” said a senior official in the Delhi health department.

While high-risk individuals include residents aged over 60 years, pregnant women, people with influenza-like symptoms and those with comorbidities. Special surveillance groups would cover domestic workers, self employed individuals such as plumbers, electricians, mechanics, etc, those engaged in sale and supply of essential commodities and taxi, rickshaw and autorickshaw drivers operating in the area, said the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the government in this regard.

“Once the locations are ascertained, we shall be taking help of resident welfare groups, autorickshaw and taxi driver unions, etc to reach out to individuals who may come under special surveillance group in each such identified locality,” said a district magistrate who did not wish to be identified.

Both high-risk individuals and those under the special surveillance groups would be screened and enlisted for rapid antigen tests in the nearest centre, the official added.

Delhi government spokespersons did not comment on the development

Jugal Kishore, head of community medicines department in Safdarjung Hospital, said: “It is important to locate areas that recorded isolated covid cases for better surveillance and the use of technology in this regard is a welcome move. The focus of the government should now be to trace maximum cases and engage focussed surveillance methods.”