Chandigarh: ‘Curve for active cases has flattened’

CHANDIGARH: With covid-19 cases jumping ahead of 500 in the city, toi finds out the future plans of the admn to stem the spread
How does the health department plan to flatten the curve?
It is not the total confirmed cases but the active cases that are important. Considering the total number of cases, the curve is bound to rise. However, it has flattened for active cases in 10-15 days.
How can the positivity rate be brought down? Should rapid testing be introduced?
There was a provision earlier that antigen test was useful if there was no adequate testing facility or immediate results were needed.First, we have adequate testing capacity and do not have corresponding number of huge samples. Secondly, immediate results are required for pregnancy cases. PGI has a cartridge-based facility. The ICMR guidelines clearly state if the Covid result is negative using antigen test, it must be confirmed by RTPCR. Considering the prevalence of infection, RT PCR test alone is sufficient. When our capacity will be exhausted, we will go for rapid tests.
Do you feel travellers are bringing the virus?
Our experience in locating the source in last 15-20 days indicated the possibility of travellers transmitting the virus. Since we cannot close our borders, we have tried to create a database of travellers. We have made self-generated pass mandatory. Some 10,000 travellers have come to the city in 10-15 days. Not many travellers have tested positive. Once the number increases, it will be a problem.
Why is the civil hospital in Sector 48 not being put to use for Covid, when GMCH, Sector 32, and PGI are handling on both non-Covid and Covid patients?
The number of active cases is not much that we need additional facilities to be activated. We have devised a protocol where mild cases are either in home isolation or in Covid care centres. Out of some 80 active cases, we must be having roughly 70-75 cases as mild. For Sector 48 hospital, we are ready but it is not required at the moment. We cannot distribute our resources at different places. This will increase the danger of spread.
Should UT be stricter and impose a stronger penalty on people not wearing masks?
We have a penal provision for violators. But we need public cooperation for this adherence. It is better to tackle with awareness drives than being harsh during such hard times.