By Dr. Shalini Rajneesh, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka 

Corona cases have seen an increasing trend creating a sense of fear and despair among all. The only way to control this pandemic is to create widespread awareness and ensure early testing and preventive measures with active co-operation of civil society and grassroot-level local bodies. Of the 5 lakh-odd COVID positive cases in the State, around 4 lakh people have been cured of this disease. There have been 8,023 deaths and we have lost about 1.5 percent of those infected.

70 percent of these fatalities are from the age group of more than of 50-60 years. Overall mortality can be reduced by taking special care of seniors above 60 years of age and keeping them out of contact with outsiders and providing them quick assistance through 104 or 14410 Helpline. Also the co-morbidity rate shows that people suffering from hypertension, diabetes, heart or cancer disease are at a higher risk. 

Trace, Track and Treat  

Over 8,000-9,000 cases of COVID are detected daily in Karnataka and the Government is doing three types of tests — Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and confirmatory RT-PCR.  

The Rapid Antigen Test is being done for symptomatic cases, such as fever, cough, common cold or those having primary contact with a COVID positive person. The results can be quickly received within 20-30 minutes, and they can be treated immediately so that the mortality rate can be reduced.  

In case of a negative report in the symptomatic RAT, an RT-PCR test is required for confirmation. The Government had earlier fixed Rs.3,000 for this test, which has now been reduced to Rs.1,600. If the test is done through a Government Hospital referral, it becomes FREE. Yet some people go directly to private practitioners and end up paying huge bills! Performing such tests during early symptom onset or close contact with a Covid positive, will save many lives. Information on the nearest test centre can be obtained through 104 Helpline.

RT-PCR testing is usually done for asymptomatic yet potential Corona patients. Example: Corona positive person’s family members, civic workers, and delivery boys etc., who are coming in frequent contact with hundreds of people every day for their livelihood.  So far, Government-run tests have found the rate of positivity to be around 10-15 percent. However, the remaining 80-85 percent of the tests are being done to rule out infection. 

Therefore, people with suspected infection need to voluntarily come for test and even spread awareness among the people, who come into contact with them in last 4-5 days. We should follow our leaders who have been announcing when they turned COVID positive — Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, MP Sumalatha Ambarish and even celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan. This can reduce the spread of infection and all positive cases should immediately inform their contacts about the positive report, instead of hiding it. 

Go online for test result 

Also, when a test is performed that patient is issued an SRF ID. This will be forwarded to the patient’s mobile number. One can visit covidwar.karnataka.gov.in and get test results by entering the SRF ID. Many people have complained that the COVID test results are delayed. Such people can get their result with this method or call the Health Helpline 104 for information. 

As per the directions of the Health Department, it is the responsibility of every laboratory that performs the COVID test to upload the results to the ICMR Portal and also communicate negative results to the patient via SMS. When a negative report is issued, they are given a message to be cautious and safe and contact 104 or 14410, in case of emergency. If a patient has a positive report, the Department of Health will immediately contact them telephonically and reassure that Health team will soon be at their doorstep and that there is no need to be anxious. 

Despite high awareness level, very few people come forward voluntarily to get themselves tested for Corona. Therefore, the Government has to use the database of patients having daily fever, cough and cold, going for treatment to Government or Private Hospitals for tracking them. This data is disaggregated and sent to respective Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to follow up, so that timely preventive or curative action is taken. 

Similarly, people who have taken medication from pharmacies for symptoms such as fever, cough and cold are called up through the Helpline 104 for enquiring about their health and provided telemedicine or hospitalisation, as the need may be. Surveys are also being conducted in the vicinity of the residence of the infected persons and primary and secondary contacts are tested for ruling out the virus infections. 

If an asymptomatic person becomes COVID positive, they are educated about the precautionary measures to be taken, particularly, home isolation. If there is a positive case among slum dwellers they are required to be shifted to the Covid Care Centre (CCC) as they cannot be separated within their small sized dwellings. 

CCCs are provided with the services of specialist doctors along with other infrastructure for treating the infected. They are monitored for 14 days and are given various treatments, along with yoga, pranayama and taught a healthy lifestyle. Patients are more likely to survive, if they are treated appropriately on time. Therefore, it is better for the public not to delay getting tested. People’s co-operation is essential for the success of the State’s endeavour to fight this pandemic.

Co-operation of local bodies and volunteers is sought so that all the precautionary measures can be taken for those who are diagnosed with the disease and at the same time reduce the fear and anxiety about the virus, through awareness generation and confidence building exercises. 

Ward Committee

Section 13 (h) of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 stipulates that each Ward shall have one Ward Committee. In view of the spread of the COVID pandemic and to ensure active involvement of the larger community, Ward Committees are empowered to deal effectively with the situation. If the Wards have a population of 40,000 to 60,000, the Ward Committees can create multiple Booth-Level Committees (BLCs) within their jurisdiction on the lines of election booths. Similar arrangements are made in rural Constituencies or Wards.

The Booth or Block-Level Committee is a small functional unit at the base and includes Booth-level officers or other Government workers to be appointed as Co-ordinators by the Ward Committee and any other frontline workers such as  ASHA, Anganwadi, SWM or Sanitary workers and includes 3-5 volunteers along with Police beat Constables, wherever possible. If anyone wishes to work in this Committee, he or she can register the name through blcares.in. More the volunteers better would be the effective handling of crisis management.

We must thank all the Corona Warriors working in the State, because of their role in controlling the infection. As we had only limited number of qualified lab technicians, we could not meet the rising demand for testing. Hence, it was planned to give proper training to Science Graduates for doing swab collection for Rapid Antigen Tests. They are being given Rs.30 per test. They can do minimum of 35 RATs per day and earn Rs.1,000 per day. Government has sponsored opportunities for young men and women who wish to serve as Corona Warriors — like tele-counseling to guide or help citizens over the phone and even provide consultancy on mental health. 

Thousands of officers at the Government-level are spending their time in tracing of the contacts of Corona positives. Therefore, if the citizens are self-motivated and give the disease information voluntarily, it will be of great help to the Government. 

Stay Healthy 

The AYUSH Department has issued several guidelines for preventing Covid. This includes drinking hot water, taking steam, tulsi decoction, milk with turmeric for overall boosting of our immunity. If people increase their internal immunity, they can fight Corona virus successfully, which can then reduce mortality rates. 

Please use Helplines & Online services

Without heeding to the rumours, people should call Health Helpline 104 and visit www.covidwar.karnataka.gov.in website to clarify any questions about the pandemic. For an ambulance one can call 108, for telemedicine consultation about COVID-19, people can contact the ‘Aptamitra Helpline’ 14410 or call 1912 for covid patient hospitalisation. One can also contact the Mental Health Helpline on 104 or 080-46110007. About 45,000 people have already contacted it. Counselling for them has eliminated their baseless fears! All these facilities are provided free of cost by the State Government; use these services and help us help you stay safe and healthy. Come, let’s all work together to beat Corona and ‘we can’!

P.S: Today the number of asymptomatic cases is much higher than the symptomatic cases. Therefore, it is the primary duty of the people to voluntarily wear a mask, maintain social distance and check for any symptoms, because we never know, we may be carrying the infection !