Civic body’s biggest challenge: Convincing people to get tested

With Covid-19 spreading across the city, one of the civic health department’s biggest challenges is convincing susceptible people to agree to tests and quarantine.

With Covid-19 spreading across the city, one of the civic health department’s biggest challenges is convincing susceptible people to agree to tests and quarantine.

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While the health department has successfully tracked over 2,000 people from 546 families who came in contact with coronavirus-infected patients, and around 989 travellers returning from affected countries, in Mumbai in the last 100 hours, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is still struggling to get people to cooperate, with many individuals avoiding the civic officials’ calls and visits.

According to a senior official from the health department, BMC is battling to convince high-risk and low-risk contacts to get tested. “People have either switched off their phones or locked their houses. People are concerned about the lack of facilities at the government hospitals. Others fear the social taboo associated with the virus. They fear the possibility of the test result being positive,” said a senior official from the civic health department.

While the BMC has finalised a list of individuals who may have been exposed to the virus, tracking them is not an easy task. “We had identified one couple who had come in contact with an infected family. Initially, they refused to go for the test as they feared their social status would be affected. We then made relatives and friends counsel them, after which they finally agreed to the test,’’ the official said.

In another case, a person switched off his phone following which BMC staffers contacted his friends through social media and after tracking him down, they convinced him to take the test.

“1,067 teams comprising of doctors and paramedical staff are carrying out surveillance and awareness activities in 10,027 housing societies in all 24 wards,” said Dr Daksha Shah, health officer, BMC.