On Tuesday, SMC Commissioner BN Pani called a meeting of all zonal heads of the SMC and strictly instructed them to identify at least 20 persons who regularly came in contact with those who tested positive for Covid-19 in the previous week. (Representational)In view of the rising coronavirus cases, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) authorities are working on contact tracing of Covid-19 positive patients and quarantining them.
SMC officials are in touch with CT scan centres in the city to gather information about people coming in for chest scans who may be put through Covid-19 tests. Six diamond factories in the city have been sealed for not following standard operating procedures (SOPs) laid down by the civic body.
On Tuesday, SMC Commissioner BN Pani called a meeting of all zonal heads of the SMC and strictly instructed them to identify at least 20 persons who regularly came in contact with those who tested positive for Covid-19 in the previous week. The close contacts will be home quarantined for seven days. SMC officials will also carry out Rapid Antigen (RAT) tests on these contacts, failing which they will be sent to Samras Covid Centre for five days.
“We are collecting the data of people going for CT scans in private centres and will do Covid tests on them, free of cost,” Pani said. During a three-day drive to check whether SOPs are followed by diamond factories in Katargam zone, it was found that six of them were not following SOPs and had not done RATs test on their workers. Subsequently, the factories were sealed by officials.
SMC Executive Engineer of Katargam zone, RM Gamit said, “We have sealed six diamond factories. Once they give us an undertaking that they will maintain social distancing among workers, use masks and sanitisers, compulsorily conduct RAT tests, etc., we will allow them to open their units.” Retired deputy health commissioner of the SMC, Dr SK Mohanty, who had worked during the outbreak of plague in Surat in 1994, wrote a letter to deputy health commissioner, Dr Ashish Naik, and advised him to give special training to municipal staffers deployed in containment zones.