Tracing primary contacts of COVID-19 patients has emerged a strenuous task for health workers with the rapid spike in the number of positive cases in Kozhikode district. The reluctance of many to voluntarily cooperate with the quarantine process too stands as a hurdle amidst the fight to rein in the disease.
Though owners of supermarkets and commercial outlets have already been asked to keep a register of their visitors to make the task easy, many are yet to comply with the rule properly. Because of the rush, some of them are depending only on the CCTV system, which may not be able to keep the recorded data for long.
Details of those who have already visited various containment zones and unknowingly came in contact with virus carriers too remain untraceable in many locations. Misusing loopholes in surveillance systems, some of the private companies are not even permitting their staff members from containment zones to work from home.
Social alienation
A Junior Public Health Nurse now part of the surveillance team within the city limits said the ill-treatment of quarantined people was continuing in many areas. Social alienation was also found to be a reason for the declining cooperation on the part of individuals or families in voluntarily revealing primary contact details, she said.
A local body member from Thuneri grama panchayat, which recently witnessed a huge increase in the number of COVID-19 patients, said they had a tough time dealing with asymptomatic patients and tracing their primary contacts. “It was quite a perplexing situation when tests turned positive in many unexpected cases. We had no other option but to find out all primary contacts using our own resources,” he said.