Health team prepared to meet any eventuality

More positive cases likely on Wednesday and Friday: official

Health officials in the district are geared up to handle any eventuality caused by COVID-19 spread.

While the officials believe it is good news that there were no native cases till Saturday, they are anxious about the coming week. Though the two positive cases reported on Sunday were the first native ones, they were confirmed during home quarantine.

Meanwhile, a senior official overseeing hospital-based activities said more COVID-19 positive cases were likely to come up on Wednesday and Friday.

The Health authorities have readied over 1,800 isolation beds in public and private healthcare facilities as well as college hostels anticipating a spurt in cases.

Surveillance has been strengthened at the grassroots level. A list of those who have returned from abroad have been prepared at the ward level, a senior district official said, adding that it would help the authorities foresee the possibility of a community spread. So far, there has been no indication of community spread as only direct and indirect contacts of COVID-19 positive cases have been found.

However, the coming week will be crucial, the official added.

On the flip side, the surveillance team, which monitors passengers at the airport, has had its slips too. There were chinks in the system, and people could have exploited them too, a health worker said, adding that only those who had been tested positive for the disease had been identified so far. There could be others with mild symptoms who do not take home quarantine seriously, he said.

According to him, those with mild symptoms could be carriers of the infection, and they could have infected more people, and such cases may come up later.

The latest instance of exploiting loopholes in the system was when two persons who were stamped on their hands for quarantine used public transport from the airport.

“We instruct low-risk people who are sent for home quarantine to hire either a private vehicle or a pre-paid cab from the airport along with precautions like using face masks. If people do not take adequate precautions, they are openly inviting the infection and triggering its spread,” a senior Health official said.

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