Systematic approach helped authorities trace asymptomatic patients

Mysuru: Systematic approach to identify and screen all primary contacts has helped the authorities detect more asymptomatic cases in Mandya, Hassan and Mysuru districts.
Mandya has the highest percentage of asymptomatic cases with 93.5 in south Karnataka. It is also one of the three districts in Karnataka with highest asymptomatics, the other two being Chikkaballapura (98.4%) and Bidar (94.3%), according to Covid-19 war room data.
The figures for other south Karnataka districts are: Chamarajanagar 90.5%, Kodagu 85.7, Hassan 85 and Mysuru 80.3.
Dr H P Manchegowda, district health officer (DHO) of Mandya, told TOI that majority of the primary contacts of positive patients are either asymptomatic or mild symptomatic. “We have been screening all primary contacts. If there are more cases in a particular area/ office, every resident/ employee is subjected to Covid test. Special drives are also conducted with help of mobile units, and all these have helped us identify more people without having any symptoms of Covid virus,” the officer added.
The Mandya district authorities also targeted vulnerable population — people with diabetes, hypertension, TB, HIV and other serious illnesses at all taluks. Luckily, the Covid positivity rate among the group is just around 3%. They will continue with special drives at all PHCs and taluk hospitals and also increase the number of tests.
Initially, asymptomatic patients were hospitalised as people in the locality or village were opposing home isolation. “But now, things have changed. We will monitor their health in hospital for two-three days and send them to home isolation. According to fresh guidelines, there is no need for hospitalisation for asymptomatic patients,” explained Manchegowda.
Hassan DHO Dr Sathishkumar said Covid tests were carried out at all hotspots across the district, especially in factories and other workplaces. “Special drives were conducted at populated areas to rule out infection, and we found more asymptomatic cases, which incidentally is across age groups,” he added.
According to Mysuru DC Abhiram G Sankar, around 49,228 have been screened in the district. Around 2,101 have been home isolated and around 850 are in Covid Care Centres, including a private one.