It was from last weekend that officials from Telangana Health and other departments started suspecting that people who returned after attending a three-day-long religious congregation in New Delhi could have contacted coronavirus. One of the first cases in the State, with the travel history, was detected on March 26. It was followed by more cases in Hyderabad, Rangareddy and other districts, which gave root to the suspicion.
Alerts were sent to senior officials in multiple departments who got on to the task of further investigation and the suspicion turned into a pattern. On Monday night, the State government confirmed that six persons who attended the religious congregation contacted COVID-19 and died in the past few days. Several persons from the State had attended the congregation and many contacted coronavirus.
The information on the number of people from each district was collated and sent to the Health department which was passed on to District Medical and Health Officials (DMHO). Based on the names, phone numbers, addresses in some cases, staff from Health department, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), and other departments went to their homes to enquire if any with the travel history developed symptoms.
“Those who attended the religious congregation and showing symptoms are admitted in isolation wards of government hospitals. Samples were collected and sent for tests. If there are no symptoms, they are admitted in quarantine centres,” officials said.
The rank and file of the Health department got on to the task of finding the dates they have returned to their home towns in Telangana, the places they have been to, people they met and other details. List of primary contacts, secondary contacts was prepared.
“If any of the suspects tests positive, we will start monitoring the health condition of his contacts,” another official said.
In fact, it was learnt that family members of a few COVID-19 patients, who attended the congregation, walked into government hospitals with requested to get tested. They were admitted and samples were collected for tests. Officials are taking regular updates on the results.
