BALLARI/ KOPPAL: The Jindal Steel Works unit in Vijayanagar in Ballari district had reported one of the state’s ‘Cluster’ Covid-19 cases, triggering anxiety among locals and the government.
However, decisive measures taken to check the transmission of the novel coronavirus has resulted in no fresh cases being reported in the industrial colony in recent times.
After the first JSW worker tested positive for the novel coronavirus in June, the number of Covid-19 cases reported at the colony kept rising till September, with 150 to 250 fresh cases being registered daily. In June, there were more than 1,800 active cases at JSW.
JSW senior vice-president Manjunath Prabhu told TOI, “Controlling the spread of Covid-19 posed a serious challenge. We put in place all the precautionary measures as prescribed by the government. We had only 40% of the workforce on duty primarily for all the emergency tasks, and all entry points to JSW were blocked so outsiders would not come.”
Prabhu attributed the slide in the number of Covid-19 cases to the vision and commitment of the leadership team and the cooperation of all the employees at JSW plant in the past few months.
“There are around 23,000 employees on the site. Including the family members of the employees, 18,000 people at the colony were tested, out of whom 1,800 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. However, not a single fresh case has been reported in the past ten days.”
However, Prabhu affirmed that they were not dropping their guard, and were staying vigilant lest another wave of the pandemic strike JSW in Vijayanagar.
Just 49 active
cases in Koppal
The upward spiral in the number of Covid-19 cases that Koppal witnessed in the months of August and September was cause for grave concern, and many feared the curve may never flatten in the North Karnataka district. However, that there are merely 49 active cases (as on December 12) in the district is testament to the startling recovery that Koppal has made in the past few months.
Koppal’s case is a curious one. When, in the first months of the onset of the pandemic, neighbouring districts witnessed a rise in the number of cases, Koppal registered none, but the easing of the restrictions resulted in its situation altering drastically in August and September. However, strict enforcement of precautionary measures helped Koppal arrest the rising curve, and the number of active cases in the district is the second least in the state – Bidar, at 42 (as on December 12), has the lowest number of active cases.
Koppal district surveillance officer Dr Mahesh MG admitted to TOI that checking the spread of the pandemic had been a challenge.
The number of active cases rose from 1,663 on August 30 to 1,874 by September 30.
A three-point programme, which entailed stepping up the number of tests, constituting of 290 teams to trace those who had been in contact with infected patients and penalising of those not following safety norms, helped Koppal flatten the curve.
“These measures also helped prevent fatalities in the district. In the past month-and-a-half, only one person in Koppal has died of Covid-19,” Dr Mahesh said.
The district was reporting up to 150 fresh cases daily even in November, but the number has dropped to five or six now, he added.
“In all, as on Saturday, Koppal has reported 13,745 Covid-19 cases. We are still conducting 1,800 to 2,000 tests daily. Our recovery rate stands at 97%,” Dr Mahesh added.