MADURAI: The city has been witnessing an upward trend in the number of primary and secondary contacts of COVID-19 patients testing positive for the infection. In the last two weeks, over half of the virus cases reported comprised contacts of COVID-19 patients, said City Health Officer (CHO) Dr P Kumaraguruparan.
While from July 1-5, the number of primary and secondary contacts testing positive for COVID-19 was 412, the figure rose to 529 from July 6-12, 972 from July 13-19 and was over 850 from July 20-28.
The CHO said a number of patients with Influenza-Like-Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARI) symptoms tested positive for the virus in June. The civic body, along with the district administration, established over 150 medical camps across the district for early detection of such cases.
"We were able to identify most of the ILI cases through the camps. Further, with the establishment of triage centres, several asymptomatic patients were detected with abnormalities at the early stages, thereby reducing the mortality rate," he added.
'Reinforced contact tracing’
Contact tracing process has been strengthened, following the change in the trend of the virus spread in July, said the CHO.
He said that a team of around 135 bill collectors and ten data entry operators, headed by a zonal supervisor, has been deployed for contact tracing.
Once a patient tests positive, a data entry operator would contact the patient over the phone and collect the details of their recent travel and contact history. The bill collectors would visit the patient’s households, he added.
At the end of each day, a list comprising the traced contacts would be forwarded to the respective medical officers at the Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHCs), where the contacts would be taken for testing, he said, adding that the team is ensuring none of the contacts was left untested.