Keeping a tab: Healthcare workers conducting door-to-door check-ups in Dharavi, Mumbai.
The World Health Organization said Friday that it is still possible to bring coronavirus outbreaks under control , even though case numbers have more than doubled in the past six weeks.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the examples of Italy, Spain, South Korea and Dharavi (India's biggest slum) showed that however bad an outbreak was, the virus could still be reined in through aggressive action.
“In the last six weeks, cases have more than doubled,” Mr. Tedros told a virtual press conference in Geneva.
Nurse Priti Srivastava checks on a COVID-19 patient. From 491 cases in April and 1,216 in May, the number dropped to 274 in June. Between April 1 and June 15, a total of 2,068 cases were reported, of which 1,040 patients recovered and 77 died.
Among the facilities fighting the disease in this area is the 300-bed Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex. The complex was converted into a Covid Care Centre for asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms, in the first week of April.
A doctor, nurse and a ward boy enter the isolation facility for routine check-up rounds. During the routine check-up, doctors check patients' oxygen level, temperature, sugar level and blood pressure. If a patient is found to have developed severe symptoms, they are shifted to hospital.
Dr. Ankita Shete interacts with a patient. A combination of containment, testing and guaranteed food and medicine supplies, along with intensive door-to-door surveillance and assistance from private agencies, helped bring down the numbers.
Patients practise yoga at the 300-bed COVID-19 care centre (CCC) at Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex in Dharavi for mild and asymptomatic patients. Dr. Dhananjay More, who has been conducting yoga and laughter therapy sessions since the start of April, has received positive feedback from patients. Some have also sought video clips to continue the exercise at home.
The medical staff take a break for lunch. The CCC at Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex is managed by a dedicated team of three doctors, three nurses, eight ward boys and two coordinators.
Ward boy Kaustubh places medicine in a plastic container for a patient in isolation. Ward boys regularly sanitise premises, take food to the patients and move serious patients to hospitals. Most ward boys and support staff have been hired on contract during the pandemic. Ward boy Sumeet Yahudi asks, “Sir, hum log jaan pe khelke patients ke seva kar rahe hain. Yeh BMC wale hum ko naukri me lenge na? (We are serving patients risking our lives. Will the BMC give us a permanent job?)”
Doctor Ankita Shete and nurse Priti Srivastava try to console a patient who has learnt of her husband's death from COVID-19. Kept in isolation, the woman was unable to see him for the last time. Besides treating patients for COVID-19 symptoms, healthcare staff also counsel and comfort them to maintain their morale.
A father and his son, both COVID-19 patients, play snake and ladder on mobile at Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex, Covid Care Centre (CCC) in Dharavi, Mumbai. The 300-hundred bed COVID Care Centre started in first week of April will be closing within a week.
Staff from the CCC cheer patients being discharged after recovering from COVID-19. With the 300-bed CCC — set up in April first week — now housing only three patients, authorities plan to close it once the last batch is discharged. Fresh cases will be taken to the dedicated COVID-19 health centre near Mahim Nature Park, assistant municipal commissioner Kiran Dighavkar said.
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However, “there are many examples from around the world that have shown that, even if the outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control,” said Mr. Tedros.
“And some of these examples are Italy, Spain and South Korea, and even in Dharavi — a densely-packed area in the megacity of Mumbai — a strong focus on community engagement and the basics of testing, tracing, isolating and treating all those that are sick is key to breaking the chains of transmission and suppressing the virus,” he said.
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 5,55,000 people worldwide since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Friday.
Nearly 123 lakh cases have been registered in 196 countries and territories.
“Across all walks of life, we are all being tested to the limit,” Mr. Tedros said, “from countries where there is exponential growth, to places that are loosening restrictions and now starting to see cases rise. Only aggressive action combined with national unity and global solidarity can turn this pandemic around.”
Put out the fire
WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan stressed the importance of being vigilant for small outbreaks, which can “very quickly mushroom”.
He compared them to a forest fire, saying a small one was hard to see but easy to put out, while a large one was easy to spot, but very difficult to extinguish.
The Irish epidemiologist said that “blind reopening” from lockdowns while community-level transmission of the virus was still going on, would inevitably lead to retrograde steps.
He said that once lockdowns were lifted , “there was always the risk that the disease could bounce back”.
But by stamping out small outbreaks, “we can potentially avoid the worst of having second peaks and having to have to move backwards in terms of lockdown”.
Mr. Ryan nonetheless added: “Accept the fact that in our current situation, it is very unlikely that we can eradicate or eliminate this virus.”
Changing tack, Mr. Tedros sounded another warning, saying that the COVID-19 crisis had raised questions about humanity's vulnerability to other threats.
“The crisis of growing anti-microbial resistance is a slow motion tsunami, where despite the rise in resistant infections, the research and development of new antibiotics has not caught up,” he said. “Unless we take quick and sustained action, we risk a doomsday global scenario where common injuries and illnesses return to become major killers.”
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