Positive case detected near SMC HQ

TNN | Apr 9, 2020, 04:06 IST

Surat: A 50-year-old male from New Rander road area at Gorat, admitted in the isolation ward of the New Civil Hospital (NCH) with suspected symptoms of the virus, died on Wednesday. Health officials said that the deceased was admitted in the NCH on Tuesday with suspected symptoms and that he was suffering from co-morbid condition including hypertension and heart related ailments. His COVID-19 report is, however, pending.
While Surat did not reported any direct Covid-related death on Wednesday, there was enough reason for the senior Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) officials to get worried. The first COVID-19 positive case was detected from Saudagarwad in Mughalsarai, an area lying barely a few hundred metres away from the SMC headquarters.
Fatimabibi Sarbatwala, 70, a resident of Saudagarwad in Mughalsarai tested Covid positive on Wednesday, pushing the tally of positive cases in the city to 21.
Health officials said that the elderly woman has no travel history. She was admitted in the Seventh Day Mission Hospital with suspected symptoms on Monday. She tested positive on Wednesday.
A senior health officer said, “Saudagarwad is located just behind the SMC headquarters in Mughalsarai. At present, Covid activity is being run through the headquarters itself as we have the entire set-up there. If more positive cases are detected, the area may be kept under containment zone. Door-to-door surveillance has started for identifying more people suffering from fever, cough and cold in the area.”
Meanwhile, SMC tracked about 1,142 patients with Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) during its surveillance. Municipal commissioner, Banchhanidhi Pani said they have set up 19 fever clinics across the city to identify people with ARI and influenza-like infections (ILI).
"During the surveillance, our health teams found 219 cases of ARI. Out of these, 99 were treated and one person was referred to the hospital. We have also held meetings with members of Indian Medical Association (IMA) and asked private medical practioners to inform to SMC about patients with such symptoms so that they can be given early treatment,” Pani said.
The SMC has formed 16 teams for contact tracing in the city and are actively involved in finding them. “We have disposed off 991 metric tonnes of bio-medical waste till now,'' said Pani, further adding that SMC has received Rs3.65 crore as donations from the people to fight coronavirus. Moreover, it has also roped in its self help groups (SHGs) to produce face masks in mass quantity. “On Wednesday, SMC’s SHGs made 5,000 masks and we plan to make 4 lakh more in the coming days. We will purchase these masks from the SHGs and give them to the people at nominal rates,” Pani said.