COVID-19: Early identification helped Nagpur, says civic chief

Over 75 per cent of people who got infected with novel coronavirus in Nagpur have since recovered and been discharged, and the death rate of 2 per cent is also among the best in Maharashtra and the country, Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said on Monday.

He said measures like early identification, tracing, isolation, treatment and mass institutional quarantine played an instrumental role in ensuring Vidarbha's largest city managed to keep the outbreak in check, Mundhe added.

As on Monday, Nagpur civic limits have 406 cases, of which 313 have been discharged after recovery and eight have died of the infection.

"Some 15-20 systems were employed to manage the outbreak. The recovery rate of 75 per cent and mortality rate of less than 2 per cent is among the best in the country. Our contact tracing system is very robust. Within 15-20 minutes of a person testing positive, we started contact tracing and completed it in around 3-4 hours, and the people traced were quarantined for 14 days," he told PTI.

"Early identification prevent asymptomatic patients from turning symptomatic. Generally, symptoms start appearing by the 7th day, and if they are already under treatment by then, the chances of death is lowered. The transmission chain is also broken," he claimed.

He said people in hotspots like Satranjipura and Mominpura were reluctant to go in for mass quarantine earlier which led to the number of cases rising continuously.

However, the situation has been turned around and Gaddigodam containment zone was a example, he said.

"In Gaddigodam, only 28 out of 700 people were found positive as the people went into mass quarantine early without resistance," Mundhe said, adding the Rapid Response Team of the Centre had also praise Nagpur for its COVID-19 fight.

He said all stakeholders, including the civic health department, government medical colleges, police personnel and the district administration played a vital role jointly.