With the number of COVID-19 patients surging by the day, the Kochi City police have cranked up contact tracing by deploying 42 teams who will follow a technologically-aided Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for judicious designation of containment zones.
The contact tracing teams are made of a Sub Inspector and two police personnel each.
This is in addition to the special round-the-clock COVID Control Room with nearly 50 personnel headed by an Assistant Commissioner and directly supervised by the Inspector General and District Police Chief (Kochi City) Vijay Sakhare.
“We bring to the table investigative instincts of our force, since contact tracing is more or less investigative in nature. Except for minimal staff for station duties, we have engaged our entire force in this exercise,” said Mr. Sakhare.
The entire process is based on the presumption that the person concerned would have got infected 10 days prior to the day he was tested positive. As soon as a person is infected, the Assistant Commissioner, Special Branch, secures the preliminary contact list prepared by a Health inspector and hand it over to the contact tracing team concerned.
The team then contacts the infected person over phone and debrief him to elicit his travel history, persons who he had come into contact with, and places visited.
The team also gathers information from family members, relatives, friends, co-passengers, and the employer based on which an initial contact tracing chart is prepared.
“The team again contacts the infected person and tries to massage his memory with the help of the chart for eliciting more information. We also analyse the Call Detail Record, Internet Protocol Detail Record, and CCTV footage. A combination of all these is used to trace the primary contacts, which is then repeated for tracking secondary contacts,” said Mr. Sakhare.
The COVID Control room collects all information and maps it on the Geographic Information System. The contact lists are then shared with the motorcycle patrol teams who ensure their proper quarantine through regular visits.
Besides, intense vehicle checking is being carried out on four roads each within every police station limit identified based on the threat perception.
“We have also deployed 15 teams of two police personnel each in congested places within every police station limit to ensure that the protocol, including mask wearing and physical distancing, is strictly followed. Violators are slapped with a minimum fine of ₹500,” said Mr. Sakhare.