JAIPUR: The "ruthless" Covid-19 containment model adopted by Rajasthan 's Bhilwara since detecting the first of its 27 positive cases on March 19 has been acknowledged by the Centre as a potential template for states battling a spurt in infections.At a video-conference with the chief secretaries of all states on Sunday, cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba said in his concluding remarks that there were two key takeaways from the review of strategies to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic – aggressive containment like in Bhilwara and preparation in terms of scaling up hospitals and quarantine facilities.Additional chief secretary (health) Rohit Kumar Singh, who has been driving the containment campaign in the textile city along with district collector Rajendra Bhatt, said on Monday that health department teams screened 28 lakh people in the first 14 days since a doctor in a private hospital there tested positive.The decision to implement a massive containment protocol was hastened by the background of the first case. The source of infection was unknown, and the fact that the patient was a doctor led health officials to fear a runaway spread of the virus through a long list of primary and secondary contacts."The strategy to combat a cluster spread was three-pronged. The first step was effective implementation of the curfew, sealing the borders of containment zones and ensuring zero vehicular movement," Singh said. "Second, we set out to identify potential clusters and carry out intensive mapping of contacts, besides isolating high-risk people and collecting samples for tests quickly. The third step was a massive screening exercise covering the entire population to detect influenza-like symptoms."The district administration constituted around 2,000 teams that went door-to-door screening a population of 28 lakh residents. Although 17 members of the hospital staff identified as the epicentre of the outbreak have since tested positive along with a few primary contacts, including their family members, the containment strategy seems to have prevented a full-blown spread so far.The last Covid-19 case in Bhilwara was reported on Saturday – after a gap of four days without any new infections. Health officials are also relieved that there has been no positive case among the 7,000-odd patients who had visited the private hospital between March 1 and 20.For collector Bhatt, the battle is far from over, but Bhilwara's strategy being talked about as a model for others to follow is a big fillip. "The Centre has appreciated our containment model and advocated that every district in the country should take such measures to deal with the pandemic. It's a proud moment for us," he told TOI.