Ganjam: The district of Ganjam gained notoriety a few months back for two reasons. One was due to the number of migrant workers returning to the district, the second one was for it emerging as a hotspot for COVID-19; an induced effect.
However, the district administration by taking prompt measures has now managed the COVID-19 situation. There was a time when the district was reporting close to 650 COVID cases daily. Now because of the preventive measures taken the numbers have come down to 50-60 cases a day.
Active surveillance, strict penalty collection for violation of COVID-19 guidelines, setting up of control rooms for monitoring, capacity-building of frontline health workers, better communication and strong community engagement are some of the strategies that have helped in restricting the spread of the disease.
On the other hand in a bid to manage the COVID situation in the district properly the state government had also appointed IAS rank officers to monitor, coordinate and guide actions in the field.
However, early release of technical guidelines on contact tracing, quarantine, isolation, hospitalisation, infection prevention and control, and extensive capacity-building by the district Health department also played a critical role in managing the situation.
Here are some of the key points which helped the Ganjam district to reduce the tally from 800 to 80:
Early preparation: The Ganjam district administration had restricted various festivals like Chaitra Mangalbar Yatra and Danda Yatra in the district in the month of March. However, the COVID hit the district with the coming of the migrant workers from different states.
Except the public transport carrying migrant workers and essential good vehicles, the district administration had not allowed any vehicle to enter the district. For this, the admin had sealed various borders like Ganjam-Andhra Pradesh and intra state borders like at Khurda, Nayagarh, Puri and Kandhamal. All these helped the district administration in the fight against this pandemic.
Systemic investment in strengthening health infrastructure: The district administration has systematically invested in health sector in order to strengthen the infrastructure. During the pandemic, the district administration had set-up at least four COVID-19 dedicated hospitals and several COVID Care centres both in urban and panchayat levels to treat the positive cases with well-trained staff and team from all specialties. Introduction of ‘Plasma Therapy’ also helped the district for the speedy recovery of COVID patients.
Early screening of all migrant workers: During the month of April, the migrant workers had started coming to the district in lakhs with no job opportunities and food left at the states like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. However, the district administration had put up temporary medical camps at bus terminals and seaports for the health screening of the migrants.
Testing and containment strategy: Considering the increase in the number of cases, the district Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange strengthened the surveillance and control measures against the disease. Intense contact tracing and increased number of coronavirus testing at the containment zones in the district are the mainstay of the district’s COVID-19 response.
Kulange also instructed all the medical stores in the district to keep the details of each and every person with flu-like symptoms coming to their stores to purchase medicines. The district administration had also adopted sero-survey to check the developed anti-bodies for the COVID-19 infection.
Isolation of high-risk contacts: The government instituted a longer quarantine from 14 to 28 days initially and built thousands of shelters for migrant workers stranded by the nationwide shutdown. Further, COVID Care Centers had been established in all blocks to accommodate non-residents such as tourists and people in transit among others. Adequate infrastructure had been provided at all designated isolation facilities for accommodating residents returning from other states. Though the district administration had to face several criticisms from various quarters for the same but it never stepped back from the COVID-19 rules.
Providing psychosocial support: To provide psychological support to the migrant workers at the isolation or quarantine centres the district administration had made arrangements like exercises and yogas at the morning time, listening of music during the evening time and gardening works. The district administration also educated the migrant workers on COVID management at the quarantine centres.
PNN