32% COVID-19 positive patients in Bhopal remained untraced on Sunday

Alarming, 32% of the new infections could not be contact traced by the COVID-19 control centre even as 137 people tested positive for COVID in the state capital on Sunday in Bhopal. 

Since the pandemic began, 26565 have tested positive for the infection while 498 deaths have been attributed to Covid-19 in Bhopal. Contact tracing, an important element for curbing the spread of the infection, seems to sidelined in the city.  

Case reporting of the department stated ‘call not received’ for one in every 10 cases diagnosed for the infection on Sunday. In 23 instances, ‘line was busy’ was the reason for no contact. Network issues were reported in eight instances, as per health department reporting on Sunday. Seven officials were deputed to oversee the contact tracing in the call centre. Each officer supervised about 20 case contacts. Usually, only three or four officials are deputed for the task.

Not only for testing of Covid-19 cases, but contact tracing also seems to have gone into a holiday mode too. Experts warn that any laxity in contact tracing could damage to the good work done by the district administration in curbing Covid-19 spread. In the last three weeks, Covid numbers have declined in Bhopal, and a reduction in active cases has benefited patients and doctors.

On Sunday, most cases were reported from Kolar (39 new infection cases). Govindpura reported 28 new cases, followed by TT Nagar (20), MP Nagar (19), Bairagarh (17), and the walled city reported nine new cases of the infection.