Karnataka faces Covid-19 contacts challenge

As much as 60% of primary and secondary contacts of Covid-19 patients in the state are refusing calls to get tested, creating a serious impediment in the government's efforts to control the raging outbreak.

Munish Moudgil, director of the state Covid war room, said that as per information only about 40% of contacts of known Covid-19 sufferers state-wide are coming forward for testing.

Deputy commissioners, district health officers and zilla panchayat CEOs across six randomly chosen districts in the state said the problem is widespread in their jurisdictions.

In Tumakuru district, a senior government health official said that as much as 40% of people who come under the ambit of targeted testing refuse to get tested. “There is an inherent fear that they will be isolated in hospitals,” the official said.

Priyanka Mary Francis, IAS, who is a member of the Rural Districts Testing Task Force, said that resistance to testing is most noticeable among the working-class, especially those who are asymptomatic.

“Most people think that if they are asymptomatic, they are fine,” she said.

In Hassan district, Zilla Panchayat CEO B A Paramesh corroborated the problem of asymptomatics' resistance to testing but clarified that those with symptoms had no such reservations.

“Every day, we get nearly a thousand people with symptoms lining up at the district hospital for testing from 10 am to 5 pm. Out of this, about 300 test positive daily. This indicates a test positivity rate of 30%,” he said.

In Bengaluru, Rajendra Cholan, Special Commissioner, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), said that the number of contacts rejecting testing is about 10%. In the last one week alone, the Palike registered 1,16,370 contacts (including 56,048 primary contacts).

However, Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad added that the Palike has adopted a no-nonsense attitude to testing contacts and suspected Covid patients.

“This is why our testing numbers have increased to 33,000 per day,” he said.

Before September 28, the Palike's six-day testing average was 26,000 per day, according to the data. Cholan clarified that a list of all Covid contacts plus those showing symptoms of Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) are sent out daily to mobile testing teams who have the task of tracking down the individuals for testing.

He added that those who continue to refuse would be hit with punitive measures under the provisions of the National Disaster Management Act.