Ahmedabad, which has reported over 50 COVID-19 cases and 5 deaths, has been identified as one of the hotspots of the pandemic. It is fighting the virus through innovative means: use of technology, home quarantine and delivery of essential services at the doorstep in certain clusters.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has taken several initiatives even before the lockdown started on March 24. On March 5, it announced a plan that mandated home quarantine for all those returned from abroad. “From March 6 to 22, 6,000 people came to Ahmedabad from abroad. All were compulsorily quarantined for 14 days. When we realised that it was important to quarantine their families too, we ensured that they were quarantined and all essential services were delivered by the civic body,” AMC Commissioner Vijay Nehra said. He said the home quarantine of international passengers had a major effect; only a couple of cases were reported from among them.
As the cases started coming in, the AMC, in a first in the country, declared the names and addresses of infected persons citing public interest. “The names of the persons found positive may be declared in public interest so that others who could have come in contact with them can voluntarily inform the authorities and isolate themselves,” the civic body said. During the lockdown, the civic body started delivering vegetables and fruits in different localities and asked Reliance Fresh, DMart and Big Bazaar to deliver provisions and food items at the doorstep.
When the exodus of migrant workers started, the AMC asked all builders and developers to make sure that the workers from their sites did not flee.
The AMC has created 500 teams of health workers and others for a door-to-door survey. Those with even mild symptoms will be taken to hospitals for testing.
The civic body wants mass testing of people from certain areas from where cases have been reported in order to weed out the potential asymptomatic patients. “In consultation with the Health Department, the next step is to go for mass testing to ascertain the extent of pandemic in the city,” he said.
