On Saturday, Dubai’s health officials began door-to-door screening of people living in one of the most populous areas, Naif. Incidentally, an overwhelmingly large part of the positively tested patients of Kasargod are returnees from Naif.
Last week was a crucial week for India with regard to coronavirus. A sudden spike in the positive cases was witnessed. In Kerala’s 39 positive cases on a single day, 34 of them were from the Kasargod district which shares a border with Karnataka. Soon after this, the Kerala officials put the district as ‘high-risk’ and since then Kasargod has become the epicenter of Kerala’s fight against the novel coronavirus.
The Sudden Spike from Gulf
As per the screening guidelines in the airport, up until March 2nd week, there was no advisory to screen people coming from the Gulf region as the hotspots were China or Europe or the United States. As a result, the people slipped away from the radar. Two weeks later, post the incubation period of the novel coronavirus, India saw a huge jump in the number of confirmed cases, most of them being from the Gulf region or contracted from them.
For instance, In Maharashtra, 15 people have tested positive who had returned from a trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The 38-year-old who lost his life battling the virus in Bihar’s AIIMS had landed in Kolkata from Gulf. Having developed symptoms, he visited a private hospital after which he was referred to AIIMS Patna.
The hospital staff and his relatives who took him to AIIMS were all exposed to the virus as two health care staff from the private hospital tested positive. Soon after, the Bihar government temporarily shut the private hospital. In Gujarat alone, more than half of confirmed cases who had an abroad travel history were from the Gulf region.
The health experts feel that the screening of people returning from the region should have been tested earlier. As a large number of Indians travel to the region and UAE being the transit hub of the world, it is automatically a high-risk zone, says a health expert Dr. Sumanth Raman. However, the mistake cannot be undone now. The only way to stop the pandemic, according to the experts is – Track, Test, Isolate and Treat.
