Tehri district of Uttarakhand which reported a sudden spurt in the number of novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) patients in June after the returnees flocked the district in large numbers became free of active cases of the Covid-19 on Monday. Rudraprayag, another mountainous district also became free from active cases of the disease on the day.
The credit for success in the fight against Covid-19 in Tehri district can be attributed to the planning of one person, Mangesh Ghildiyal who at present is the District Magistrate (DM) of Tehri. Before joining as DM of Tehri, Ghildiyal was the DM of Rudraprayag where he got fame for managing the reconstruction of Kedarnath.
The absence of active cases in Tehri district assumes significance because there was a time during mid June, when the district was among top two districts in the State in terms of the active patients. After he assumed the charge of DM on May 25, Ghildiyal concentrated his energies in devising a containment plan for the disease.
He roped in many hotel owners and converted their hotels into quarantine centres where the returnees were kept. Talking to The Pioneer, Ghildiyal said that he adopted a four point monitoring system of the people kept in the home and institutional quarantine. “The Asha workers were asked to send daily reports about the status of quarantined people. They were monitored by Asha facilitators and those in charge of blocks.
Apart from the Asha workers, the Anganwadi workers too were deployed for monitoring the quarantined people. In the third level teachers were appointed as nodal officers of the quarantine centres and senior teachers were deployed to monitor the teachers. A total of 175 senior teachers who monitored five to six village Panchayats were deployed. The reports of the village Pradhans were also monitored,’’ he said.
Explaining the rationale behind the four point monitoring system Ghildiyal said that at 6 PM daily he along with other officers used to monitor the reports sent by these different sources.
The discrepancies in the reports were immediately pinpointed and necessary actions for ensuring proper containment were taken. He added that careful study of reports revealed that three Asha workers were not at their place of posting after which they were suspended.
After Ghildiyal took over as DM more than ten thousand returnees were put in institutional quarantine where required facilities were provided to them. Special emphasis was laid on more testing for Covid-19.
Ghildiyal expressed happiness on zero active cases in the district and attributed it to the team effort. He, however, added that the war is far from over and the level of alertness is needed to be maintained.
The first case of the Covid-19 was reported in Tehri district on May 20.
The health department has so far reported 421 patients of the disease out of whom death of two patients has occurred and 419 have recovered from the disease.
More than 51,000 returnees from different parts of the country have come to Tehri after April which is the second highest number of returnees after Pauri district.