150, who lived around the home of Covid-19 deceased, quarantined

Anjaya Anparthi | TNN | Updated: Apr 24, 2020, 10:42 IST

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NAGPUR: From Wednesday midnight to Thursday evening, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) quarantined around 150 persons from 30 houses in the slum adjacent to the Old Bhandara Road between Badi Masjid and Choti Masjid road. Out of the 150 persons, 110 were quarantined at government hostel at Wanadongri which is a new institutional quarantine centre, and the remaining at MLA Hostel.
The action was taken under NMC efforts to trace, examine and quarantine all the neighbours of city’s first and only Covid-19 victim from Badi Masjid area in Satranjipura. The NMC has identified all houses in four directions from the residence of the 68-year-old deceased.
The NMC medical teams went to the houses, asked the residents to pack their bags and sit in buses that were lined up for them on Old Bhandara Road.
The man died while undergoing treatment at IGGMCH on April 5. His reports came positive on April 6. The NMC teams then traced and quarantined over 230 people. Out of them, 56 persons, including 26 family members, have tested positive. Reports of first and second samples of over 140 are awaited.
After Thursday’s action, total number people traced and quarantined with Satranjipura connection will increase to over 350.
Out of the 230 quarantined earlier, few are family members and close contacts from other localities like Bairagipura, Dalalpura, Shanti Nagar, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar and Bhaldarpura.
Municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe told TOI that this was yet another pro-active and major initiative of the NMC to contain Covid-19. “We could trace and isolate 56 positive persons due to such initiatives. Few immediate neighbours of deceased also tested positive. Few family members of the deceased residing in the same area will have their own contacts and neighbours,” he said.
The civic chief said they have decided to test all. More people will be traced and quarantined depending upon results of these 150 people.
Mundhe added, “There is still some missing link in the case. We are not getting correct and total information from family members and others who tested positive. Need is to contain further spread of disease from this area to other parts of the city. Also, we have to ensure treatment to all positive persons from the area,” he said.
On the quarantine facilities, NMC additional chief medical officer Dr Praveen Gantawar said, “There are no issues of spaces for institutional quarantine. We have identified 21 centres, excluding existing ones, having capacity of 1,500 persons,” he said.
NMC sources told TOI that another reason behind testing all people in the area is that an attendant working in a clinic at Satranjipura also tested positive. The deceased was taking treatment from this clinic before death. But register at clinic doesn’t have contact numbers and addresses of patients who visited the clinic between April 2 and 6. The people from this slum are visitors of the clinic. NMC requested people who visited the clinic to come forward for testing but none responded,” sources said.