11 Municipalities Account for 70% of Coronavirus Cases, Govt Tells Authorities to Step Up Monitoring

Eleven municipal areas in seven states and union territories that have accounted for 70 per cent of India's coronavirus case load were asked by the government on Saturday to step up monitoring in old cities, urban slums and other high-density pockets like camps and clusters for migrant workers for management of COVID-19 cases.

These 11 municipal areas are from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and account for 70 per cent of active case load, the Union health ministry said.

Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan who held a high-level meeting through video conferencing with principal health secretaries and municipal commissioners along with other officials from the 11 municipal areas urged them to focus on prevention through active screening of high risk and vulnerable population along with effective and sturdy clinical management of the admitted cases to reduce fatality rate.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,720 and the number of cases climbed to 1,25,101 in the country on Saturday, registering an increase of 137 deaths and a record jump of 6,654 cases in a 24-hour span till 8 AM, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 69,597 while 51,783 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

"Thus, around 41.39 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.

During the meeting, a presentation was made to highlight the trend in case trajectory with respect to total confirmed cases, case fatality rate, doubling time, tests per million and confirmation percentage, the ministry said.

"It was told that major challenge lies in those corporations having shorter doubling time, higher mortality rate and a higher confirmation rate than the national average," the ministry said in its statement.

The officials were briefed about the factors to be considered while mapping the containment and buffer zones and the activities mandated in containment zone like perimeter control, active search for cases through house to house surveillance, contact tracing, clinical management of the active cases.

They were also asked to undertake surveillance activities in the buffer zone like monitoring of SARI/ILI cases and promoting social distancing and hand hygiene among others.

"Maintaining high vigilance and monitoring in areas of old cities, urban slums and other high density pockets along with the camps/clusters for migrant workers are important steps in COVID-19 management in the urban areas," Sudan said.

The officials were also urged to focus on prevention through active screening of high risk and vulnerable population and groups, and effective and sturdy clinical management of the admitted cases to reduce fatality rate.

While many have operationalised 24x7 state control rooms, others could also follow the lead and start such units which shall not only provide assistance to the people for various facilities and services regarding COVID-19 management, but also have a panel of domain experts and doctors to provide round the clock support and mentoring for clinical issues which shall effectively contribute to reducing fatality rate, the statement said.

"It was pointed out that testing needs to stepped up in some municipal areas to ensure early detection of cases, timely clinical management and a reduction in fatality rate," it said.

They also need to be mindful of ramping up the health infrastructure to ensure preparedness for the next two months with special focus on isolation beds with oxygen, ventilators and ICU beds.

Other issues that need focused attention include active coordination with government and private labs to address delays in sample collection, partnership with private hospitals to augment the health and bed capacity, waste disposal, management of camps for migrant labourers and creating awareness regarding issues such as stigmatisation of patients in local languages, by involving community leaders, youth groups among others.

The measures taken and best practices followed by the municipal corporations for the management of COVID-19 cases were also discussed, the statement stated.

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner briefed about establishing close cooperation between private hospitals and municipal authorities to pool the health infrastructure like ICU or oxygen beds etc.

They shall also soon make public the online portal displaying the bed availability with unique ID numbers for each bed, and also set up a GPS backed online ambulance tracking system, the statement said.

Indore authorities have focused on contact tracing, and active house to house survey.

They have formed 'gully patrolling teams' which include community volunteers and retired government officials helping the special surveillance teams in containment zones to improve confidence-building measures, active surveillance and provisioning of essential items, the statement said.