Rigorous screening at check-posts set up on the borders with Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and relatively low exposure to the outer world, has helped Chamarajanagar district, one of the backward regions of the State, remain free of COVID-19 cases as on Saturday.
The institutional quarantine facility in Chamarajanagar is empty. There are no mask-clad officials or doctors. The rooms are empty and row after row of beds meant for COVID-19 patients have been rolled up and the premises spruced and sanitised. The 36 paramedical staff and 92 doctors deployed on duty are a relaxed lot and there is no buzz of an ambulance.
“We brought in stringent regulations at the check-posts on borders with the neighbouring States, and even at the check-posts with Mysuru after the Nanjangud factory incident. These check-posts were manned by police, Revenue Department and medical personnel, and every vehicle was sanitised and the passengers screened,” said Deputy Commissioner M.R. Ravi.
The screening commenced on January 31, a day after Kerala reported the country’s first COVID-19 case, he said. There were also surprise midnight checks by the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police.
Gundlupet and Chamarajanagar towns have a high degree of trade and commerce with Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with hundreds of trucks moving in both directions daily. “Even the empty trucks coming in from Kerala and Tamil Nadu to procure vegetables directly from farmers were not spared and were thoroughly sanitised as preventing the infection from entering the district was the priority,” Mr. Ravi explained.
In another departure from conventional methods, the district administration did not allow the luxury of home quarantine for any suspects, lest they violate the norms, as has been frequently reported across the State and country.
Fortunately for the authorities, out of the 212 people who underwent institutional quarantine in the district, no one tested positive. This included 47 employees of the Nanjangud pharma company who were from Gundlupet and Chamarajanagar. Furthermore, there were nearly a dozen individuals with foreign travel history, and they were shifted from their homes to the institutional quarantine facility for 14 days despite showing no symptoms.
Last Thursday, the pharma company employees were brought back to the quarantine centre for another round of swab collection and tests to ensure that they had not developed any symptoms. Their results are awaited.
But the vigil is far from over. An army of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and anganwadi workers — 750 in all — is scouring the district and conducting a door-to-door survey of nearly 2.5 lakh households, comprising around 11 lakh people. This is to check for SARI and ILI (Severe Acute Respiratory Infection and Influenza-like Illness, respectively). The survey was launched on April 15 to assess if there has been any COVID-19 community transmission. It will be completed on Monday. As on Saturday, there were two SARI cases and 50 ILI cases in the district, and the patients are being constantly monitored.