FIGHTING COVID- 19+

How Erode and Nilgiris flattened the Covid curve

29.04.2020 TOI 

Tracing Of Contacts, Strict Implementation Of Containment Measures Worked, But Officials Keep Tight Vigil To Prevent Relapse

Senthil Kumaran & Shantha Thiagarajan | TNN

Erode district, which had the third highest Covid-19 cases in the state until the second week of April, has now become a Covid-free district.

The last batch of four Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment at IRT Perundurai government hospital in this turmeric hub got discharged on Tuesday making the district second in the state to achieve 100 % recovery. “We don’t have even a single Covid-19 positive case in the district now,” said Erode collector C Kathiravan.

Nilgiris was the first district to get all Covid positive patients cured in TN when the last of nine people recovered and got discharged on Monday.

Health and revenue officials in both the districts are a relieved lot, Erode in particular because it had a high number of cases. The district was the first in west zone to report Covid-19 cases and among the earliest clusters in Tamil Nadu. While Nilgiris had nine cases, Erode had 70 cases, out of which one person died and the remaining 69, including six Thai nationals, recovered.

“Since we don’t have any positive cases for the past 14 consecutive days, we will move into orange zone from red,’’ Kathiravan said.

In the case of Nilgiris, if no fresh positive case is reported in the coming days, the hill retreat is likely to be the first district to get into green zone in the state from orange.

The Nilgiris reported nine cases, with the last positive detected on April 10. The district has not reported a new case in the past 18 days. The last patient, a 19-year-old boy from Kandal area in Ooty, was discharged from ESI hospital in Coimbatore on Monday.

Officials said swift action in tracing the contacts and strict implementation of containment measures helped in arresting the spread. Kathiravan said he came to know about the arrival of Thailand nationals on March 15. They were quarantined the next day. Even before their test results came, authorities traced people who came in close contact with them and they were also quarantined. “The Thailand nationals were in contact with 694 people of 169 families. All of them were quarantined immediately,” Kathiravan said.

In the Nilgiris, where borders were sealed even before a statewide lockdown was announced, all those with a travel history were screened. Officials said 1,471 people with travel history were traced and quarantine, curtailing the spread.

Authorities in the two districts are cautious to prevent return of the virus. “The four containment zones in the district will remain sealed till completion of the 28th day,” collector J Innocent Divya said.

“Though work under MGNREGA and essential construction activities are going to start in a day or two, the lockdown protocol will be maintained,” she said.

Kathiravan said they are keeping a tight vigil on the district borders. “We will not allow people from other districts and states to enter Erode unless there is an emergency,” he said.