HUBBALLI: Three mantras - surveillance, contact tracing, and testing - followed by Dharwad district administration has resulted in the minimum spread of coronavirus in the region.
The district administration along with health and police departments has been working round-the-clock to trace Covid-19 cases and enforcing strict law and order since the beginning of the lockdown.
With the help of the technology, the administration managed to track the history of each patient and quarantine their preliminary and secondary contacts, thereby, containing the further spread of the virus.
The district has so far reported 33 Covid-19 cases, including 10 local influenza-like illness (ILI) and 23 imported cases (patients who had come from other states and countries).
"Better surveillance and conducting of a large number of testings and less number of cases helped the authorities prevent the local spread of the virus," said sources.
Whenever a person tested positive, the health department effectively traced his/her primary contacts and kept them under institutional quarantine. The secondary contacts were kept under home quarantine monitored by health officials.
The police played a key role to prevent further transmission of the virus by executing the lockdown and sealing of containment zones. Initiatives such as geofencing, issue of e-passes, and passes for vendors to sell vegetables at doorsteps ensured people are not stepping out of their houses unnecessarily.
The average test conducted on primary and secondary contacts of each positive case in the district is 160, which is the highest in the state.
A senior official said: "We maintained testing protocol even for migrants. The first testing on 5th or 6th day and second testing on the 12th day helped prevent local transmission of the virus. As many as 11,086 throat swab samples were tested till Thursday. Health workers are in touch with migrants and their contacts on a regular basis, which is helping them trace the right person at the right time."