Contact tracing essential to control COVID

Central Chronicle News
Raipur, May 14: Contact tracing plays crucial role in preventing spread of COVID-19 infection. Contact tracing being done on a large scale in the state has brought in favourable results. More than 12 thousand 435 officers and staff have been put on duty of contact tracing being conducted all over the state.
Contact tracing teams in districts are gathering information about health of those who came in contact with COVID positive persons. In case of COVID symptoms such people are also being subjected to COVID test. Medicine kits are being given in accordance with the SOP to those who came in contact with COVID positive persons in an effort to protect them from infection.
They are also being isolated in order to break chain of COVID infection. Persons testing COVID positive after contact tracing are being provided facility of home isolation or full treatment at COVID hospitals or COVID Care Centres.
Contact tracing is of great help in stopping the ever-increasing infection rate and breaking the chain of infection. Contact tracing is being done with the help of officers and employees of higher education, school education, women and child development, health and family welfare and other departments. Nodal officers have also been appointed in each district for this. Commissioner of Health Department, Dr CR Prasanna is coordinating this campaign at the state level.
Nodal officer Dr Kamlesh Jain, who is monitoring contact tracing, said that with the outbreak of corona epidemic in the state, contact tracing of infected people was started. In order to prevent the spread of COVID infection, preventive measures are being taken along with treatment. People who were exposed to the COVID infected persons need immediate testing so that the chain of infection can be broken.
Necessary action is being taken under contact tracing campaign with identification of those coming in contact with COVID positive persons within 48 to 72 hours.
In an effort to control the rate of corona infection and break the chain of infection, sampling and isolation are being done with identification of the patients exposed to the COVID patients.
It is believed that about 30 people come in contact with four-five COVID positive persons. Risk of infection is higher in some of these people after they come in contact with COVID positive patients.
Samples are being collected from those showing COVID symptoms after coming in contact with infected persons.
Among them are some in high risk category such as those aged above 60 years, or those with kidney disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and pregnant women. After sampling, the action is being taken to isolate them.
Those who do not show any symptom after coming in contact with positive persons are being told to give their samples for COVID testing, six days
after coming in contact with infected persons. Community support as well as help of the patients testing positive for COVID are necessary in contact tracing so as to reach out to maximum number of people and take steps to monitor their health.