Rapid increase in Covid-19 cases leaves Prayagraj admin puzzled

Prayagraj: Detection of around 300 coronavirus cases in a short span of a fortnight days has left the authorities of health department worried who are running from pillar to post to find out exact causes behind rapid spread. Till June 30, the city had recorded only 286 Covid-19 positive cases while the graph on July 11 stood 578. Ironically, around 90 percent of the cases reported between July 1 and July 12 were from the old city, semi urban and posh localities like Civil Lines and the list of infected people also included bank employees, policemen, healthcare professionals.
Health officials, however, claimed that teams are working overtime to enlist the areas in urban pockets where maximum number of Covid-19 were reported between July 1 and 12. The door to door campaign being taken out by the health authorities from July 1 to 15 would also help them to list about the patients who came in contact with any positive persons .
From July 1 to11, 277 persons have tested positive for Covid-19 in the city and over 90% of them were residents of either old city or upscale localities like Civil Lines, Tagoretown, Georgetown and Lukerganj. The sudden rise in number of novel coronavirus cases has also put a major dent in Prayagraj district’s recovery rate — which dropped from 72% to 58.47 % till July 11. According to data released by health department, as many as 578 Covid-19 cases were recorded in the city by Saturday night. Of these, 338 patients have recovered and have been discharged, while 18 have succumbed to the disease so far. Health department data shows that on July 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 10 and 11 was 10, 16, 31, 22 ,27, 22, 5, 8 , 52, 49 and 35 cases were reported respectively. A senior health official said, “Officials of health department are focussing on pockets where more positive cases were reported in fortnight and are also taking up massive awareness campaign”. He, however, added antigen rapid test kit has also helped health authorities to speed up testing and as a result, more cases were reported”.
Pointedly, of 35 cases reported on Saturday, majority of them from old city and semi urban pockets. The city has now more than 30 new hotspots in Prayagraj within the past one week.