Official reports from three different primary health centres (PHCs) have indicated wide spread of coronavirus among groups of people and doctors blame lack of social distancing and absence of COVID appropriate behaviour.
For instance in the case of Ramayampet municipal limits, which falls under the limits of D Dharamaram Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC), a group of people from a community had organised a week-long celebration in which people from Hyderabad to Kamareddy had participated in large numbers. Though the officials do not have exact data of how many had participated the doctors in that area report that the event has become a COVID-19 super spreader.
The doctors got alerted to the event only after they tried to trace the source of infection following an upsurge in COVID-19 symptomatic cases. “We conducted house-to-house survey during which several symptomatic cases were reported. Many symptomatic patients were handed over medicine kits supplied by government, but they were unwilling to use the medicines till they undergo a test. Unfortunately, the government has ordered the number of tests to be brought down and they are limited to 20 per day,” said a doctor on condition of anonymity.
The case of Shankarampet R. is something different. Even here the number of cases is high and the reason being attributed is to migrant workers who are staying away from their families and are put up in shared accommodation. “There are more than 3,000 workers from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Maharashtra working in some 10 industries in the region. Majority of them are staying away from their families and are living in shared accommodation. If one of the residents gets infected, the chances of all the people sharing the accommodation getting infected are high. Further, these people don’t have an option of staying in isolation as there are no facilities and many of the employers are unwilling to support the workers,” Shankarampet R. Medical Officer Dr. Sravani said.
The number of cases in Shankarampet A. has come down considerably at present. This is being attributed to the ongoing lockdown. “People from here travel up and down regularly to cities and other areas for their work. The extensive exposure to people in other areas is one of the reason for higher number of cases in the past. Since the lockdown has been imposed the travel has come down and so have the number of cases. We have to break the 14-day link and there is a need to extend the lockdown further,” said another doctor on condition of anonymity.
All the doctors wanted the authorities to establish isolation centres in rural areas and convince people to stay there till the quarantine period was completed.
