Gujarat opts for cluster containment strategy

GNN | Mar 30, 2020, 3:08 PM IST|

• Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot & Gandhinagar to be covered
• Micro planning and mapping will be the focus areas

Gujarat News Network

Ahmedabad March 30, 2020: With an aim to check and contain the spreading tentacles of the dreaded Covid-19, Gujarat Health & Family Welfare department officials on Sunday announced that from Monday onwards, they would put in motion a ‘cluster containment strategy in five districts that have recorded 90% of the state’s Covid-19 positive cases.

Gujarat Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Jayanti Ravi told newspersons on Sunday evening that four big cities of Gujarat Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot and capital Gandhinagar have more density of cases than other districts.

“As Covid-19 cases spread from a nucleus, Monday onwards we will put in motion a containment strategy with micro planning and mapping of cases,” Jayanti said adding, “A meeting will take place with the commissioners and collectors along with health department officials.”

On Sunday, Gujarat recorded eight new cases – four from Ahmedabad and one each from Rajkot, Surat, Porbandar and Gir-Somnath.

Out of the total, a 30-year-old man from Ahmedabad and a 26-year-old man from Surat had Dubai travel history whereas a 37-year-old man from Rajkot had returned from Germany to India via Dubai.

Other cases are of local transmission, she said, adding that the woman in Gir-Somnath got infection from her husband, who is already a positive patient.

A special control room will be created at Gandhinagar to monitor implementation of the infection clustering and coordination with various stakeholders.

A special arrangement is made for people living with thalassemia in Gujarat in association with Indian Red Cross under which they will get treatment at their doorstep through government hospitals.

As on Sunday evening, Gujarat has 18,784 persons under home quarantine and 696 under government-run quarantine facilities. A total of 236 persons were booked for violation of quarantine rules so far in the state. A door-to-door survey for Covid-19 has covered 5.65 crore persons. The survey will be intensified in urban areas now. Through the survey, 81,815 persons with domestic or international travel have been identified.