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Covid-19 rears head during Madhya Pradesh govt’s ‘Kill Corona’ campaign
When the “Kill Corona” campaign began on July 1, there were 13,593 Covid-19 patients in the state and of whom 572 had died. On July 15, when the campaign ended the number of patients stood at 19,643 and the death toll at 682.
The Madhya Pradesh government’s much talked about campaign to tackle the coronavirus pandemic has seen the situation worsening in the state, driving authorities in several districts to clamp curfews and lockdowns or amend orders to reschedule opening of markets.
When the “Kill Corona” campaign began on July 1, there were 13,593 Covid-19 patients in the state and of whom 572 had died. On July 15, when the campaign ended the number of patients stood at 19,643 and the death toll at 682.
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In comparison to the period earlier, the number of Covid-19 cases increased by 200% during the fortnight. During the campaign, as many as 6,050 new Covid-19 patients were identified across the state and 110 died.
On average, 400 new patients were identified and more than seven died every day during this period in comparison to 133 Covid-19 cases and more than five people dying every day in over three months prior to the campaign.
The major contributors to the Covid-19 cases during this fortnight were Bhopal (993 cases), Gwalior (876), Indore (787), Morena (734) and Jabalpur (242). The new cases from these five cities accounted for more than 60% of the 6,050 new cases identified in the first fortnight of July.
A seven-day curfew has been clamped in Gwalior since Tuesday while a complete lockdown has been imposed in Morena. In Indore and Bhopal, the opening of markets has been rescheduled.
When the campaign was launched, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said the government and the society will work together in all districts during the “important campaign of controlling the virus and to generate health awareness”.
“A meaningful message will be conveyed by this unique and major campaign to other states too,” Chouhan had said in an official meeting as per the state government’s official communiqué.
“About 14,000 women and men health workers of the state will be entrusted with the important responsibility of survey work… Now, the task of identifying the suspected patients quickly and treatment will become easier through the door to door survey in the state. We have to work with a strategy for total control on the virus,” he had said.
Interestingly, when the campaign ended on Wednesday the chief minister, as per another official communiqué, said in a meeting, “Positive cases are emerging due to reasons such as organising marriage ceremonies and parties at the social level, hence action should be taken to control it at both government and social level with alertness.”
“Social distancing, use of masks and precautions must be continued. The causes behind the emergence of positive cases must be eliminated,” he said.
Public health expert Amulya Nidhi said the Kill Corona campaign was to address the gaps in identifying the Covid-19 cases with special attention to the vast rural areas in the state.
“The government’s strategy continues to remain the same—identifying cases, isolation, test and treatment. However, what we have seen during this campaign is more and more cases coming from urban areas which were already on the radar of the government. Hence, the government can’t say now that the cases in these cities increased due to more testing under the campaign,” Nidhi said.
Nidhi said, “The government must increase the number of Covid tests and labs while strictly enforcing compliance of safety norms including lockdown restrictions. But the fact is there are crowds of people on streets and in markets. There are political activities in view of by-polls with hardly any respect for social distancing norms. Markets are being opened and run as per the wishes of politicians.”
State government data shows 11,703 survey teams had conducted the health survey of 75% of the state’s population and 93,000 samples had been taken during the Kill Corona campaign till July 14, out of which 1,611 or 1.72% of the total samples taken tested positive.
“When the government’s data itself is self-explanatory that when there are an insignificant number of patients identified under campaign the problem lies somewhere else,” SR Azad, a public health expert, said.
“The government must admit that it has either failed to address the reasons or is not looking into the same for any reason,” Azad added.
State home minister Narottam Mishra, who headed health department as well till a few days back, said the coronavirus pandemic is spreading fast not only in India but the entire world.
“The Kill Corona campaign was aimed at increasing the number of tests and identifying the patients early. The number of tests was enhanced significantly. If a patient is identified early and treated it will reduce the number of deaths,” Mishra said.
“Any death is unfortunate for us and the state government is making all-out efforts to prevent deaths caused by Corona. We have succeeded also in our efforts,” he added.
