GHMC changes Covid-19 strategy

HYDERABAD: With the number of Covid-19 cases increasing in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits, multi-disciplinary teams have decided to approach each case in a different manner. Officials are taking a week’s time to retest, track the travel history and check for symptoms among people, who were in touch with those who tested positive.
“After a senior citizen in an apartment of 10 flats located in Allwyn Colony (Kukatpally ward) passed away due to coronavirus, we immediately tested his driver but he was asymptomatic. After a week when we approached him again he tested positive,” said a GHMC official.
The marking of the containment zone has also changed. While Alijapur in Narsingi was sealed following six new positive cases on Saturday, in Moosapet circle where a 24-year-old doctor, working in a reputed hospital, was tested positive officials contained only the floor of the apartment. “Infrastructure, entry/ exits points, common areas such as lift, cellar etc are taken into consideration before the containment area is marked,” said a GHMC official.
Where positive cases are detected, staff members, who are pressed into service to sanitise the area, are taking inputs from the family of the patient, resident welfare associations and apartment associations. “We have instructed to spray sodium hypochlorite solution twice a day in the vicinity of the building where a positive case has been tested, but spraying is also being done based on the commuting route and frequently visited places by the person who tested positive,” said a GHMC official from the entomology wing.
On an average, GHMC is getting five calls every day where people say that their body is showing symptoms of coronavirus and around three people ask for an ambulance. “ We are also probing the callers who report medical conditions to us,” said a GHMC official.