MUMBAI: The city’s contact tracing program has shrunk to a system based on phone calls from home visits as the massive third wave led by Omicron overwhelmed civic teams with an exponential rise in cases.
Experts say that with the coronavirus rapidly increasing its spread over a short period, contact tracing was no longer as relevant or practical.
In January, barely two to three contacts were found per positive patient. An analysis of civic numbers found that the contact tracing rate dropped as daily cases gradually climbed into the five digits. From January 6 to 8, when Mumbai reported more than 20,000 cases every day, less than two contacts were traced per positive case. The ratio, however, has improved over the past few days as cases drop.
According to the standards, teams are supposed to trace 15 high- and low-risk contacts for each patient. “However, it was impossible to visit all the positive households, screen and prepare reports in the evening when there were so many of them. Therefore, we contacted most by telephone, took details of their condition and checked whether family members were showing symptoms,” said Vedika Samjiskar, a health volunteer stationed in a neighborhood in south Mumbai.
The epidemiological cell of the BMC receives a list of positive patients, which is shared with the 24 services. In each neighborhood, there are dozens of health posts whose staff carry out contact tracing. In January, each post suddenly had 90 to 120 cases to track daily, dropping from 7 to 10 in December. Contract tracing involves visiting the patient’s home, screening high-risk contacts, and inquiring about low-risk contacts, which may be neighbors, colleagues, etc.
In the current wave, low-risk contacts have been taken out of the equation, said Ward L doctor Dr Jitendra Jadhav, who added that testing was mostly limited to immediate family members, unlike in previous waves. where neighbors were also checked. Other district officials admitted that the search for contracts had been affected. Dr Mahendra Khandade from Ward N (Ghatkopar) said he received 500-600 positive cases per day at the height of the third wave.
“Besides a huge load on the system for ten days, many civic health workers contracted Covid, which reduced the workforce,” he said. Dr Bhupendra Patel, Western Ward Department of Health, added that they had received up to 700 cases, which was too many for a team of around 150 volunteers. “We did, however, keep an eye on households with elderly people,” he said.
Overall, in cities like New York, positive patients no longer receive calls from health authorities. In South Africa, contact tracing in the UK has been relaxed.
Epidemiologist Dr C Lahariya said community-level contact tracing is no longer relevant. “This is done when the pathogen is new and you want to contain it. At this point, you also need it for quarantine purposes. Currently, 90% of contacts are asymptomatic, so even if you identify a few, it won’t change or stop infections,” he said.
Experts say that with the coronavirus rapidly increasing its spread over a short period, contact tracing was no longer as relevant or practical.
In January, barely two to three contacts were found per positive patient. An analysis of civic numbers found that the contact tracing rate dropped as daily cases gradually climbed into the five digits. From January 6 to 8, when Mumbai reported more than 20,000 cases every day, less than two contacts were traced per positive case. The ratio, however, has improved over the past few days as cases drop.
According to the standards, teams are supposed to trace 15 high- and low-risk contacts for each patient. “However, it was impossible to visit all the positive households, screen and prepare reports in the evening when there were so many of them. Therefore, we contacted most by telephone, took details of their condition and checked whether family members were showing symptoms,” said Vedika Samjiskar, a health volunteer stationed in a neighborhood in south Mumbai.
The epidemiological cell of the BMC receives a list of positive patients, which is shared with the 24 services. In each neighborhood, there are dozens of health posts whose staff carry out contact tracing. In January, each post suddenly had 90 to 120 cases to track daily, dropping from 7 to 10 in December. Contract tracing involves visiting the patient’s home, screening high-risk contacts, and inquiring about low-risk contacts, which may be neighbors, colleagues, etc.
In the current wave, low-risk contacts have been taken out of the equation, said Ward L doctor Dr Jitendra Jadhav, who added that testing was mostly limited to immediate family members, unlike in previous waves. where neighbors were also checked. Other district officials admitted that the search for contracts had been affected. Dr Mahendra Khandade from Ward N (Ghatkopar) said he received 500-600 positive cases per day at the height of the third wave.
“Besides a huge load on the system for ten days, many civic health workers contracted Covid, which reduced the workforce,” he said. Dr Bhupendra Patel, Western Ward Department of Health, added that they had received up to 700 cases, which was too many for a team of around 150 volunteers. “We did, however, keep an eye on households with elderly people,” he said.
Overall, in cities like New York, positive patients no longer receive calls from health authorities. In South Africa, contact tracing in the UK has been relaxed.
Epidemiologist Dr C Lahariya said community-level contact tracing is no longer relevant. “This is done when the pathogen is new and you want to contain it. At this point, you also need it for quarantine purposes. Currently, 90% of contacts are asymptomatic, so even if you identify a few, it won’t change or stop infections,” he said.
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