What went down in Tiruchy?

TIRUCHY: In just 18 days, Tiruchy witnessed a whopping 75 per cent surge in Covid cases. The numbers went up from 310 cases in mid-June to 1,273 by July 10. Was those returning from Chennai to blame? That was the theory initially. But now, even the officials admit that the spike was due to mismanagement, lack of proper contact tracing, and inadequate testing. It all began when Chennai and its neighbouring districts went under a 12-day intensive lockdown from June 20.

The Spark
 In droves, people fled from the capital city towards their home districts. Tiruchy started witnessing a spurt in caseload. From single-digits, the numbers went up as high as 75 cases on June 24 and 87 on June 29. The ‘Chennai factor’ was particularly strong in the rural areas. Contact tracing and isolation of the infected was a challenge.

As a result, the spread was quick in the congested parts of the town. “One of the biggest mistakes was not tracing the contacts fast enough,” admits a health department official. “Only symptomatic contacts of the positive patients were tested, which was not enough. Door-to-door screening, which was done even in a big city like Chennai, could have been done easily in Tiruchy. But it did not happen. This led to a four-fold increase in cases in city limits since June 20,” says the official. Busy commercial areas, and densely populated residential settlements have reported over 50 cases every day for the last 10 days. NSB Road alone has recorded more than 107 cases.   

The Surge
It was on July 10 that the Corporation decided to enforce the lockdown in three wards, where ever day over 50 cases were being reported. “We have cordoned wards 16, 17, and 18, as there has been a flare up. If we are able to control the spread in these areas, the overall numbers in the city will come down. The lockdown will be for 14 days,” says corporation commissioner S Sivasubramanian. He blamed large family functions for the rise in cases, but residents say the officials, too, have been slow in responding.     

For instance, when an employee working at a jewellery store on the NSB Road tested positive on June 22, none of his contacts were tested. The store was allowed to continue to function. Now, a whopping 107 people linked to the store have tested positive. “The store has over 500 employees. Thirty of them were staying with the person who tested positive.

Those people continued to come to work, and the virus spread. Those employees and their contacts, from Thuraiyur and Musiri, were tested only after outrage started pouring out,” says a corporation official. Luckily, the mistake was not repeated. When an employee at a big textile showroom tested positive subsequently, the store was immediately shut down. All the employees were isolated.      

The Virulence
While cases continue to rise, testing remain disproportionately low in Tiruchy. Till July 3, only 700 samples were tested on an average every day. After much criticism, the number went up to 1,000 per day last week. Experts, meanwhile, say the spike could be due to the virulence of the virus.
“In the case of patients who came from New Delhi, not many of their contacts or family members tested positive,” says doctor Lakshmi, head of the microbiology department at the KAPV Vishwanathan Medical College.

“In the case of patients who have returned from Chennai, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, many more contacts are testing positive. Even a contact who spends 15 minutes with a positive patient can become positive.”  There has also been an increase in deaths since June. The mortality rate of Tiruchy now stands at 1.8 per cent, slightly higher than the State average of 1.4. While the district has reported 23 deaths so far, only 17 of them are from the Tiruchy city. Of these, only 12 have been recorded in the department’s health bulletin.  

The Way Forward
Tiruchy is likely to have a total of 4,800 cases by the end of this month, says collector S Sivarasu. “More than 1,000 samples will be tested every day and contact tracing is being done in a stringent manner, with a team appointed to handle it,” he says.

“As we are in a transition phase, we can arrest the virus at this stage. Clusters have been identified contact-wise and institution-wise,” adds doctor Aravind Kumar, the District Epidemiologist. “We are prepared for 1,000 active cases with our new facility. But people are still roaming about without masks and are not following social distancing. Things will change only if the people cooperate with us,” adds the collector.