Dr Dhruva Chaudhary, who is the nodal officer for Covid-19, Haryana, on Tuesday, said that spike in Covid-19 cases and the spurt in fatality clearly indicate that the NCR region and urban parts of Haryana have entered the stage of community spread.
However, the situation is very much under control in rural areas of the State as the number of Covid-19 cases being reported here are comparatively lower than urban areas of the State. “People, by and large, were abiding by the norms but now some laxity in maintaining social distancing, sans masks was visible, which is worrisome, '' he added.
Talking to ‘The Pioneer’ over the phone, Chaudhary said that with the start of public movement, opening up of the economy, operation of commercial activities, industrial activities and arrival of migrant people in the State during ongoing unlock-4, the number of Covid-19 cases have increased significantly. Since September 1, around 1600-2200 Covid-19 cases have been reported from different parts of the State everyday and most of them are from urban areas.
Highest number of Covid-19 cases was being reported in Faridabad, Gurugram, Sonepat, Rohtak, Panchkula, Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar. In urban areas, the coronavirus cases are increasing day by day and neither their index cases nor travel history is being found which establishes its community spread, he added. Chaudhary said that the chief medical officers have ramped up testing, thus the numbers are rising. The rising number of new cases is not much of a worrying sign, but the state’s priority is to keep the fatality rate as low as possible.
“The community transmission is usually “defined as a stage when it is impossible to trace the chain of transmission, impossible to tell who gave the infection to whom but as on today, we are unable to find the reasons that where a person might have got it from in urban areas. We are implementing all the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines regarding Covid- 19 strictly,” he added.
Pointing out towards available Covid-19 data of Department of Health and Family Welfare, Haryana, the nodal officer said that State has witnessed 49.54 per cent of total 125, 412 Covid-19 cases in last 30 days. In addition to this, 48.76 of total 1331 Covid-19 fatalities reported during the same period. According to data, 63,282 Covid-19 cases were reported on August 30 and after 30 days, the number of cases increased to 125,412 on September 28. 682 Covid-19 deaths were reported on August 30 and its number increased to 1331 on September 28. The number of active cases has climbed to around 16, 000.
Responding to a question that the State Government is yet to declare community spread of the disease, he said, “The Covid-19 positive rate in the State is around 6.72 per cent. There are many localised pockets in urban areas where transmission is high as Covid-19 positive rate is 10 per cent or above which indicate the community spread of Coronavirus disease.” The nodal officer said that the antibodies against the Covid-19 infection were found in eight per cent of people in the sero-prevalence survey done in Haryana in the month of August and those living in urban areas and NCR districts were found more affected.
“The urban population was affected more than the rural population. The sero-positivity observed that in urban areas the rate is 9.59 per cent while 6.9 per cent in rural areas. Another sero- survey is under way in selected areas and the results are expected to be declared in the next few days. A sero-survey involves testing the blood serum of a group of individuals for the presence of antibodies against the infection to know who has been infected in the past and has now recovered. Team members are collecting samples from the selected area to find out the extent of the Covid-19 infection among the people. It would be more clear in the second sero-survey report,” he added.
Asked whether the lockdown imposed in the month of March benefited the State, the nodal officer said that the State got time to improve its medical infrastructure. Now, the motivation level is highest among doctors and other health workers. Health professionals and police and sanitation workers are joined working with effective coordination to contain Covid-19. “We have asked the health officials to lay emphasis on 3Ts—tracing, testing and treatment for early detection, treatment of Covid-19 patients. State Government has issued guidelines on physical distancing and the use of sanitisers, face masks to curb community spread of the disease and everyone should follow it strictly,” he added.
The State has a healthy recovery rate of about 85.63 per cent currently. Majority of the cases and fatalities are from urban parts of the State including areas that fall in the NCR and Yamunanagar, Panchkula, Rohtak, Panipat, Panchkula, Ambala and others.
“The positive cases have crossed 125, 412 and 1331 deaths and this is certainly a cause of worry.
There has been needed to lay thrust on education and spreading awareness among masses. It is only by wearing masks and observing social distancing, besides disinfecting our clothes and properly washing hands that we can protect ourselves, It is only with people’s cooperation that the rising Covid graph could be brought down, he said, adding that though cases are increasing, it is due to good Covid-19 management that Haryana is far better off than most other states regarding recovery rate and growth rate.
