It was on February 2, 2020 that Alappuzha logged its first and the country’s second COVID-19 case. In less than two weeks, the district heaved a sigh of relief when the Wuhan returnee who tested positive for the disease was discharged from the Government Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha, after recovering fully. The person was the first to be cured of the disease in the country.
When the second wave of infections hit the State, the district remained largely unscathed. Since the first positive case, the district reported just four more cases and only three remained under treatment as of Thursday.
No contacts positive
No primary contacts of the positive cases have contracted the disease so far in Alappuzha, let alone community-level spread. Even as authorities continue to maintain a high level of vigil, they strongly believe the pestilence has been contained at least for the time being.
Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran, who is in charge of Alappuzha district, says: “Compared to some other places, Alappuzha has registered far fewer cases so far and there are no fatalities too. This proves that the State government’s containment plan has worked well in the district. Without the humongous efforts put in by the district administration, Health Department, volunteers and others, things would have gone awry.”
According to Health Department officials, various measures and efforts that had gone into dealing with the first case have come handy in further checking the spread of COVID-19.
Stringent measures
“The student from Wuhan testing positive has not taken us by surprise. We have been informed of his arrival in advance and we were prepared for any eventuality. The precautionary measures have saved even his parents from contracting the disease. From that time on, the protocol with stringent measures continues to be the order of the day. We have been able to identify people coming from hotspots and put them in home quarantine,” said a Health Department official.
All five positive cases in the district have a travel history. While three have returned from foreign countries, the other two attended the Tablighi meet at Nizamuddin in Delhi last month. After the Tablighi event became a COVID-19 hotspot, authorities were quick to identify people who attended it and returned to their houses in the district.
They were soon shifted to a COVID care centre. Besides, their primary and secondary contacts have also been put under close monitoring.
“Those from the hotspots are being closely observed. This has helped us identify two asymptomatic COVID-19 cases recently,” the official added.
