How Coimbatore brought a steep drop in Covid cases

COIMBATORE: The number of daily fresh cases recorded in Coimbatore district has fallen 44% in a span of just 11 days, showing a rapid decline. The district, which recorded a peak with 4,734 fresh cases on May 27, recorded 2,645 cases on June 6.
Officials attribute the sharp decline to door-to-door surveys, closure of industries, guiding patients on proper home isolation and follow-ups with symptomatic patients.
“The number of cases has been falling consistently by anywhere between 1% and 6% since the decline began,” says district monitoring officer M A Siddique. “Cases have been falling in city corporation limits and rural areas. The fall is steeper within the civic body limits, thanks to efforts to reduce transmission.”
One of the main reasons behind the dip in cases was ensuring that all industries, except those in essential services, were closed, says city health officer Dr S Raja. “After industries were closed, chances of workers getting infected while working and them taking the infection back to their families, were completely cut and it brought down cases,” says Raja.
“By closing industries, we saw a drop in both industrial and family clusters,” he says, pointing to the reason behind cases in east and south zones of Coimbatore falling to less than 170 cases a day each.
The other reason health officials cite for the drop in cases is the door-to-door survey in corporation limits and rural areas to identify mildly symptomatic people.
“Fever surveyors also call those with symptoms daily to check whether they got tested and if their symptoms were getting better or more severe. They offered advice about medications and isolation,” said an official.
Other factors include keeping attendees away from Covid-19 wards in CMCH and ESI Hospital, better access to government ambulances for patients to reach hospitals and closing of grocery and meat shops, markets.
“Introduction of car ambulances to ensure patients and their families don’t run from hospital to hospital hunting for bed, reminding people not to move around within containment zones, stopping two-wheelers on the road and the lockdown led to a fall in cases,” said a health department official.