COVID-19: timely action to prevent local transmission: a success story from Kannur District, Kerala
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20211250Keywords:
COVID-19, Epidemiological investigation, Kannur, KeralaAbstract
Background: The first case of COVID-19 in Kannur district was reported in first week of March, 2020. An elderly female with multiple co-morbidities and confined to house for many years was detected to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 on third week of May, 2020. She neither had relevant travel history nor was a contact of any confirmed COVID-19 case. A special investigation team was assigned to identify the source of infection.
Methods: Index case's residential premises and the concerned local Primary Health Centre (PHC) were visited to get an idea about the background details of the index case. The team members participated in focus group discussions for decision making and reviewing steps involved in the process of investigation. Data collection was done mainly through phone interviews using an open- ended questionnaire. Data collected from family members, relatives, neighbours and local leaders were compiled systematically and summarized descriptively to reach a hypothesis.
Results: Rigorous contact tracing of index case and appropriate testing of the contacts were done. Interstate truck drivers bringing fish from outside Kerala, who used to deliver fish to the index case’s house were identified as the source of infection. These truck drivers used to deliver fish in the local fish market also. The district administration was immediately alerted and fish market was disinfected and closed which prevented further mushrooming of cases.
Conclusions: Early epidemiological investigation for source identification and elucidation of chain of disease transmission is crucial to clamp down the outbreak efficiently.
Metrics
References
Daily - Bulletin – HFWD – English – June - 12. pdf Available at https:// dhs. kerala. gov.in/wp-content/ uploads/ 2020 /06/Daily-Bulletin-HFWD-English-June-12.pdf. Available at 21 August 2020.
Tian H, Liu Y, Li Y, Wu CH, Chen B, Kraemer MUG, et al. An investigation of transmission control measures during the first 50 days of the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Science. 2020;368(6491):638-42.
Euro Surveillance. Available at https:// www. eurosurveillance.org/ docserver/ fulltext/ eurosurveillance/ 25/ 6/ eurosurv-2 5 -6-4.pdf? expires=1604843633&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=E1CF112AC2CC7E1E2ED7CE19522A49B. Accessed on 20 November 2020.
Containmentplan16052020.pdf. Available at https:// www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/Containmentplan16052020.pdf. Accessed on 8 November 2020.
2020.04.11.20056010v1.full.pdf. Available from: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.11.20056010v1.full.pdf. Accessed on 8 November 2020.
Coronavirus Disease-19: Summary of 2,370 Contact Investigations of the First 30 Cases in the Republic of Korea. Osong Public Health Res Perspect. 2020;11(2):81-4.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Available at https:// www. who. int/ news- room/q -a-detail/ coronavirus -disease-covid-19. Accessed on 8 November 2020.
Clinical Management. Available at clinical-management-of-novel-cov.pdf. https:// www. who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/clinical-management-of-novel-cov.pdf. Accessed on 2 January 2021.
Jpmph-20-076. Available at https:// www. jpmph.org/upload/pdf/jpmph-20-076.pdf. Accessed on 8 January 2021.
Liu Y, Gayle AA, Smith A, Rocklöv J. The reproductive number of COVID-19 is higher compared to SARS coronavirus. J Travel Med. 2020;27(2):46-54.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
