New method pressed into service to curb spread in Thane

This picture has been used for representational purposes

In a bid to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) in Maharashtra's Thane district has rolled out a new pattern found successful in one region, officials said.

The pattern is derived from its success in Turbhe region and is now being implemented in other areas of the NMMC. The 'Turbhe Pattern' involves a complex task of contact tracing of 28 close contacts of a positive person, which has helped detect a large number of cases in the past few days.

"After a person is diagnosed as Covid-19 positive, we start tracing at least 28 of his close or recent contacts, check their health and send them to quarantine if needed," explained a senior health officer.

An industrial area, Turbhe is situated on the busy Thane-Belapur Road and its areas like Turbe Stores, Indira Nagar, Pawne Gaon and certain localities of adjoining Sanpada were badly hit.

The second worst-hit after Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in Thane district, NMMC has recorded a staggering 9,889 cases with 258 deaths so far and is among the areas flagged by the authorities for special attention.

In fact, the Turbe Stores itself was shut as a red zone, prompting NMMC Municipal Commissioner Annasaheb Misal to take the firm decision of "extensive contact tracing" to break the virus chain.

Special officers assigned to the department took regular updates and monitored the progress of the contact tracing which all the 23 health centres in the city are required to complete within 72 hours, since the sooner the infectee with symptoms is traced, the easier it is to control further spread.

In the Turbhe Ward, after one person was found positive, the health teams managed to track 28 people who came in close contact, check their health and subjected them to a swab test, and even those with minor symptoms were shunted to quarantine.

"After its success was proved, we are now implementing the same pattern in the rest of the city. It will help curb the growing prevalence of coronavirus here," said Misal.

Prior to the 10-day lockdown in NMMC from July 3, a week-long curfew had been slapped in 12 special containment zones from June 29 onwards and a large number of cases were detected during door-to-door screenings and testing of over 100,000 people besides isolating suspected cases.

The development came in the wake of an appeal by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday to all civic bodies in Thane to set up Corona Vigilance Committees and launch an all-out 'chase the virus' initiative.

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