Covid-19 outbreak in Agra: First hit, first on its feet

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A security person guards at the historic Taj Mahal in Agra, Monday, July 6, 2020. The Agra district administration has decided not to reopen the Taj Mahal for visitors amid concern over rising COVID-19 cases in the city, despite the government's decision to reopen monuments from July 6. Credit: PTI Photo

Amid the surging Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, the success of the Agra model in containing the infection has earned praise.

The first case of Covid-19 in North India was reported from Agra. Five members of a family, who had returned from Italy, had tested positive for the virus on March 2. The cases shot up in the next few days causing a huge concern for the district authorities and the state government.

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Prabhu Nath Singh, the District magistrate of Agra, said that the administration took the rising cases as a challenge and devised a nine-point strategy to contain the infection.

The strategy included immediate survey by the rapid response teams after report of Covid-19 cases, sanitisation drive in the homes for three consecutive days, barricading of the containment zones, secondary contact tracing, monitoring by senior officials and independent agencies among others.

Read: Poor implementation, monitoring weaken Covid-19 strategies

“We were able to break the chain by focusing on secondary contact tracing and isolating such people... we also conducted home surveys... so far, home surveys have been conducted six times. The lockdown was also strictly implemented,” he said.

“Now the situation is well under control,” he added.

As of Friday, Agra had 1557 active cases with 95 deaths. A total of 1284 people have recovered and been discharged from the hospitals.