Delhi’s Dilshad Garden scripts Bhilwara-like success story in COVID-19 fight

Rajasthan's Bhilwara district was able to contain COVID-19 with stringent measures

coronavirus-india Representational Image | PTI

Delhi’s Dilshad Garden had been identified as one of the hotspots for COVID-19 infection in the national capital after seven positive cases had emerged from the area. However, after a Bhilwara-like operation, which involved sealing off the area, imposition of curfew and screening of more than 15,000 people and isolation of COVID-19 suspects, the locality has in the last 10 days not reported a single case of the disease.

The source of COVID-19 infection in the area was traced to a 38-year-old woman, who had returned to Delhi from Saudi Arabia on March 10 after meeting her husband. On March 12, she developed fever and cough, and went to see a doctor in the locality. On March 15, the woman was taken to GTB hospital from where she was referred to RML hospital.

On March 17, she tested positive for coronavirus, and on March 18, the authorities, through contact tracing, discovered that she had met nearly 81 people after returning from Saudi Arabia. She ended up infecting at least eight others. Her brother, mother and two daughters were infected. On March 22, the doctor at a Mohalla Clinic she had visited also tested positive for the disease.

All the people she came into contact with were placed under quarantine. CCTV camera feeds were used to find out the movement of the woman’s 19-year-old son, who had accompanied her on the trip to Saudi Arabia, to trace the places or the people he visited.

“When the woman tested positive for COVID-19, we rushed to her residence to ask her family for names and addresses of people who had visited them since March 10. Her son was not very cooperative, so we had to seek the help of the local police to get information. We also used footage from the CCTV cameras installed near their home to identify some people who needed to be put under surveillance,” said Dr S.K. Nayak, District Administration Officer, Shahdara, who oversaw the entire exercise.

In an operation similar to the stringent measures adopted by the Bhilwara administration, curfew was imposed in the area and it was sealed off. Police barricades were put up and neither vehicles nor pedestrians were allowed, including those involved in essential services. Authorities also made announcements through microphones to apprise the residents of the situation and urged them to come forth if they had met the woman or her family.

Under what was titled ‘Operation SHIELD’, as many as 123 medical teams screened more than 15,000 people living in 4,032 houses. Thousands of people were quarantined and tests were conducted. Each team surveyed around 50 homes and asked a set of questions. Any person who had met the family was quarantined or shifted to the GTB hospital for medical treatment and testing.

“I feared a massive COVID-19 outbreak in Dilshad Garden area after seven people were found positive. It was the first area where we implemented Operation SHIELD. The hard work of the health officials and the successful implementation of the operation has shown great results,” said Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain.

“The Delhi government is still tracking the people of the area and if there is symptom then they are being quarantined. We will also initiate random testing of the residents soon. There is not a single positive case in the last more than 10 days from the area,” said Nayak.