BENGALURU: As per the contact tracing data of the last one month in BBMP, shared by the State war room, there is an average of 6.29 primary and secondary contacts traced per Covid-19 positive patient in Bengaluru. The data was taken between July 11 and August 12. Of a total of 54,984 patients, there are 3,45,633 primary and secondary contacts.
The zone with the best contact tracing is Dasarahalli with 15.10 primary and secondary contacts traced per patient. The second is the South zone with 10.16 contacts traced per positive patient. However, there are some zones with fewer contacts tracing per patient.
For example, RR Nagar has 3.60 primary and secondary contacts per patient and is the lowest among all zones. Bommanahalli is the second lowest with 4.15 total contacts. As per Munish Moudgil, IAS officer in charge of the State war room and special officer for Covid-19 management, the contact tracing has improved ten-fold in the South zone.
“Earlier, it was less than one contact per patient. The deployment of booth level officers and use of the contact tracing app has made a difference,” Moudgil said. RR Nagar zone has 2.16 primary contacts per patient and 1.44 secondary contacts per patient.
Asked why the figure was low, Dr R Vishal, IAS, special officer in charge of RR Nagar zone, said their focus is more on primary than secondary contacts. “All zones, apart from Dasarahalli, have the number of primary contacts between 2.2 and 2.7. If we focus on secondary, we will lose manpower. Right now we are tracking primary contacts efficiently, triaging them, getting them tested and sending them to CCCs, hospitals or for home isolation,” Dr Vishal said.