More on Covid-19

NEW DELHI: The geographical distribution of Covid-19 has a strikingly similar pattern with the H1N1 influenza in 2009, suggesting that though the spread in population could be high, it is unlikely to uniformly affect all parts of the country, the government said in its containment plan for large outbreaks.The plan, released on Saturday, detailed post-lockdown measures to deal with large outbreaks where efforts will be focused on active surveillance in identified geographical zones along with implementation of social distancing measures with strict perimeter control. Besides, intensified testing may be required among all suspect cases, high risk contacts and those with severe acute respiratory infection.“The current geographic distribution of Covid-19 mimics the distribution of H1N1 pandemic influenza… This calls for a differential approach to different regions of the country, while mounting strong containment efforts in hotspots,” the plan said.The government has drawn out the containment plan as clusters posing high risk of further spread of Covid-19 cases have emerged in several states like Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi and the UT of Ladakh.As per the risk assessment made in the containment plan, 211 districts across the country have reported Covid-19 cases and the risk of further spread remains very high.The cluster containment strategy will be to contain the disease within a defined geographical area by early detection of cases, breaking the chain of transmission and preventing its spread to new areas.The document detailed a strategic approach for possible scenarios such as travel-related cases, local transmission, large outbreaks amenable to containment and widespread community transmission if and when India becomes endemic for Covid-19.The document said, "Containment for large outbreaks through geographic quarantine strategy calls for near absolute interruption of movement of people to and from a relatively large defined area where there is a single large outbreak or multiple foci of local transmission."In simple terms, it is a barrier erected around the focus of infection. Geographic quarantine shall be applicable to such areas reporting large outbreak and/or multiple clusters of Covid-19 spread over multiple blocks of one or more districts that are contiguous."According to the document, the authorities will do extensive contact tracing and active search for cases in the containment zone, test all suspect cases and high risk contacts, isolate all suspect or confirmed cases, implement social distancing measures and intensive risk communication as part of the cluster containment strategy.For large outbreaks amenable to containment, the documents said the strategy will remain the same but vary in extent depending upon spread and response to be mounted to contain it.