Bhubaneswar: With the detection of second COVID-19 case in capital city’s largest slum at Salia Sahi, experts here pointed out the potential risk of community spread owing to overcrowded living conditions.
A 19-year-old man of Nirankari Nagar of Salia Sahi here tested positive for coronavirus Thursday. He is a contact of an earlier positive that had travel history to New Delhi. Similarly, earlier a pregnant woman (Gujarat returnee), also from Salia Sahi slum, had tested positive during her delivery.
“As returnees have started to arrive from different states the cases are surfacing. There is a high risk of community spread as the residents living in these areas are confined to small places and are in large numbers leaving almost no scope for social distancing. If not checked earlier, the spread could be fatal, especially in the case of asymptomatic patients,” warned Sushanta Behera, an infectious disease expert here.
However, allaying fears, senior officials at the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) here stated that the authority is well equipped to control the spread in the slum with active survelliance through its team of Anganwadis and Sachetaks.
“There are about 370 Anganwadi centres functioning in the city. We have different survey teams that include one Anganwadi, ASHA and Mahila Arogya Samiti member. Earlier when the Gujrat returnee had tested positive, we had tested 46 of its primary contacts including family members and another 195 in the neighbourhood who tested negative for the virus after 10 rounds of active surveillance,” stated a senior official at the BMC.
Meanwhile, following detection of the Thursday’s second case, BMC, Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary visited Jharanapalli and Nirankari Nagar slums of Salia Sahi, where people have been quarantined. The commissioner also held discussions with COVID Sachetaks, local residents and others in the presence of BMC officials like ZDCs, and surveillance teams.
“The Salia Sahi is an abridged version of India’s biggest slum, Dharavi in Mumbai. Reaching out to families door to door and setting up fever clinics to allow people to get themselves checked will reduce any potential threat drastically,” Behera suggested.