With the number of COVID-19 cases breaching the 7,500-mark in India (as of 11 April), what exactly happens after someone is declared positive for the novel coronavirus?
The moment the district magistrate is informed of a positive case, a string of measures are implemented immediately. From ensuring contact tracing to declaring curfew, while ensuring supply of essential items, everything is the responsibility of the district magistrate.
The Quint interviewed Udaipur district magistrate, IAS officer Anandhi, and got a step-by-step break down of how the government swings into action the moment they are informed of a COVID-19 positive patient in their jurisdiction.
Till 11 April, Udaipur district had four positive COVID-19 cases.
What happens the moment someone tests positive for COVID-19?
After samples are sent to the microbiology department of the principal medical college, we are told if the case was positive. Now, this person is already in a hospital. A contact-tracing team sits down with the COVID-19 positive patient and notes down his or her travel history over the last 15 days. There is already a set format for these questions. All the questions are mentioned on this list – they include where all did you go in the last fifteen days? Who did you meet? Then, upon your return, were you at home? What are the places you visited? Which shops did you visit? Did you go the homes of relatives or attend weddings? Through this, we get a list of the people the patient met over the last 15 days.
“While this is happening on one end, simultaneously there is another team which goes where this person lives. This comprises policemen, medical rapid response team, the survey team of the CMHO (chief medical and health officer) with an administrative official,” the IAS officer said.
They take the patient's home as the epicentre. Then a radius of the area is taken, depending upon the geography of the area. A decision is made as to what would be marked as the containment zone. It is generally between 1-3 kilometers. Immediately, curfew is declared in the area,” she added.
“The people who live in the same house as the patient are taken immediately for testing to the hospital. They are also kept in the hospital till their test results are out,” Anandhi said.
“Then the people named by the patient in the contact-tracing exercise are designated as high-risk contacts – these are people who the patient met in the last 15 days. They are also brought to the hospital and they are also admitted till their tests results are declared,” she added.
“What we did in Udaipur, is that even before our first COVID-19 positive patient came to light, we used the government-identified polio sectors to find out the population in the areas.,” she said.
Polio sectors are reliable existing geographical boundaries which the health department is used to working with.
“On the basis of that, we figured how many houses one team could visit in the area, on the basis of which again those many teams were allotted to each sector,” the IAS officer added.
“Then our survey team, whose job it is to do house-to-house surveys, inspects the area demarcated as containment zone. They go to each home and conduct checks,” Anandhi explained.
“On the basis of these sectors, we also identify our nagar nigam (municipal corporation) teams. We decide who would go in what vehicle to the area and then the entire area is sanitised using sodium hypochlorite,” she said.
On the basis of the same sectors, we also identify the persons and the vehicles which would be deployed in an area where there is curfew, she said.
“It would be his or her job to distribute grocery, milk and vegetables. As after curfew is imposed, only door-to-door delivery is allowed and that also only by the government as private door-to-door deliveries are not permitted,” Anandhi added.
“This is our immediate action plan. Then, if another person tests positive, the same process is repeated again. For example, he maybe a friend of someone (infected). So, where does he stay, who is his immediate contact... this is how the cycle goes on,” the IAS officer said.
“Similarly, when someone comes from outside the state, we check what his or her mode of transport was,” she said. “If it was train, then we reach out to the Railways and get details of people who were in the same compartment as the patient.”
“For example, our first COVID-19 positive patient had a travel history. So, immediately, within two hours, we got the details of everyone who had travelled in the same compartment as him. Then we informed other districts who then implemented the same system of tracking,” Anandhi added.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)