Noida: To streamline the process of contact tracing for Covid-19 cases, Noida officials have proposed a real-time online platform where data is shared by all NCR cities.
“The process we follow now goes like this — when a case is reported, we notify related districts on email, after which contact tracing begins. This process can be a lot faster if it is done in real-time, so there can be early containment of contacts,” said Narendra Bhooshan, nodal officer for the Noida’s Covid-19 response. The suggestion is that the moment a case is reported, all information about the patient is uploaded onto a platform which Noida, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and nearby UP districts can access. Each district can then get to work, figuring out the chain of contact.
The proposal has been placed before the state government and the Centre. “Borders between NCR cities and neighbouring UP districts are fluid anyway. Most involve daily travel. This would help connect the missing links in the contact chain faster,” an official said.
In the past, a lot of time has been lost in contact tracing. One of the reasons the Cease Fire cluster of cases grew had been the delay in figuring out all the people who had come in contact with those who got infected first — 55 of Noida’s 103 cases had been just from that one cluster. The problem with something like Covid-19, which is highly contagious, is that the more the time that is allowed to pass, the more people come in the chain of contact. So the growth of one cluster can be arrested simply by moving fast. It’s the basic principle of containment. But geographical and administrative overlaps have held this up sometimes.
For instance, some of the nurses who live in Noida but tested positive in Delhi have been included in Delhi’s Covid count. The process of contact tracing, however, has to be done in Noida as well — this is where they live. But officials in Noida said they are still waiting for contact tracing to be done by Delhi officials because it is a Delhi case. In such a scenario, data sharing would speed things up. Each area with a link to a Covid case could just start the contact tracing, quarantine, sealing and sanitisation process fast. In the past week, 29 cases in Noida have had a Delhi connect, as did many from Ghaziabad. In fact, the Delhi link was what made the Noida administration seal its borders with the capital this week.
“The process we follow now goes like this — when a case is reported, we notify related districts on email, after which contact tracing begins. This process can be a lot faster if it is done in real-time, so there can be early containment of contacts,” said Narendra Bhooshan, nodal officer for the Noida’s Covid-19 response. The suggestion is that the moment a case is reported, all information about the patient is uploaded onto a platform which Noida, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and nearby UP districts can access. Each district can then get to work, figuring out the chain of contact.
The proposal has been placed before the state government and the Centre. “Borders between NCR cities and neighbouring UP districts are fluid anyway. Most involve daily travel. This would help connect the missing links in the contact chain faster,” an official said.
In the past, a lot of time has been lost in contact tracing. One of the reasons the Cease Fire cluster of cases grew had been the delay in figuring out all the people who had come in contact with those who got infected first — 55 of Noida’s 103 cases had been just from that one cluster. The problem with something like Covid-19, which is highly contagious, is that the more the time that is allowed to pass, the more people come in the chain of contact. So the growth of one cluster can be arrested simply by moving fast. It’s the basic principle of containment. But geographical and administrative overlaps have held this up sometimes.
For instance, some of the nurses who live in Noida but tested positive in Delhi have been included in Delhi’s Covid count. The process of contact tracing, however, has to be done in Noida as well — this is where they live. But officials in Noida said they are still waiting for contact tracing to be done by Delhi officials because it is a Delhi case. In such a scenario, data sharing would speed things up. Each area with a link to a Covid case could just start the contact tracing, quarantine, sealing and sanitisation process fast. In the past week, 29 cases in Noida have had a Delhi connect, as did many from Ghaziabad. In fact, the Delhi link was what made the Noida administration seal its borders with the capital this week.
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