After dist sealed, 22 of Maharashtra family recover

Initially, four members of the family had tested positive on March 23 after they returned from Haj in Saudi Arabia. “They were kept in the isolation ward at the government medical college on March 19,” said district civil surgeon Dr Sanjay Salunke.

The four included a 62-year-old woman, a 52- year-old woman and a 65-year-old man, who also suffered from congestive heart failure. Soon, five others from the same family, three women and two men, tested positive. Others who tested positive during subsequent testing included a 70-year-old woman who used to do domestic chores at their place and a family member who came to meet them at Islampur from Kolhapur.

The youngest member of the family, a two-year-old, had also contracted the virus. “The parents of the toddler have tested negative but they do not want to leave him alone in the isolation ward,” said Dr Salunkhe.

After several members of the same family tested positive, the district administration’s main task was to trace all the people the family had come in contact with, said District Collector Abhijeet Chaudhary.

The District Rapid Response Team traced 53 high-risk contacts and 436 low-risk ones. The 14 symptomatic contacts were shifted to isolation and tested while 32 asymptomatic close contacts were put in institutional quarantine, said Chaudhary. All low-risk contacts have been home quarantined, and they are visited daily by 16 health teams.

In Islampur, the district administration also declared a containment zone of 1 km radius around the area the family resided in, with an additional buffer zone of 1 km.

“We ensured doorstep delivery of essential items in both containment and buffer zones and we even disinfected vehicles that come out of containment zones,” said the district collector.

An active surveillance effort by 31 teams includes daily visits to over 1,600 houses in the containment zone.

Only one identified person from each family was allowed to come out to purchase essential items. Information booklets were given to each family member and hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis was given to all close contacts and health workers.