‘Super-spreaders’ slow down Chandigarh’s recovery rate

Naina Mishra
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 4

The “super-spreaders” of Covid-19 have undone what Chandigarh claimed and boasted of a while ago — 50 per cent recovery rate.

At present, the recovery rate of Covid patients in the city is 20.5 per cent, which is lower than the national average (27.5 per cent).

Knowing the super-spreader

A super-spreader is an unusually contagious organism infected with a disease. In context of a human-borne illness, a super-spreader is an individual, who is more likely to infect others, compared with a typical infected person. Such super-spreaders are of particular concern in epidemiology.

Of the 102 positive cases recorded till today, only 21 have recovered. On April 24, the UT Administration had stated, “While the national recovery rate is 20 per cent, the recovery rate of Chandigarh is 56 per cent. It was also informed that Chandigarh was ranked third among the highest recovery states.”

Timeline

March 18: UK-returned 23-year-old woman from Sector 21 tests positive, has spread the virus to five contacts

March 27: Dubai-returned 22-year-old youth from Sector 30-B tests positive, is responsible for infecting 16 people in his neighbourhood

April 24: Thirty-year -old ward attendant who attended a “rajma chawal” party in Bapu Dham Colony tests postive, has spread the infection to 54 city residents, including three health workers

The city witnessed the first wave of Covid cases from foreign-returned. The first case, which was reported on March 18, was that of a 23-year-old woman from Sector 21, who had returned from the UK. Five more cases were connected to the first case.

Another positive patient in the city with a foreign travel history was that of a 26-year-old woman, who had also returned from the UK. She was treating Covid patients there. However, no one in the city was infected from her as she directly went to the PGI.

The second wave was observed when a 22-year-old youth from Sector 30-B tested positive for the virus. He had returned from Dubai on March 11 and had developed cold and cough on Mach 20. He had visited the hospital on March 25 and was tested positive on March 27. What worried the contact tracing team was that he had not quarantined himself for 14 days as per the Government of India advisory.

After 21 days on April 17, a 52-year-old woman in his neighbourhood had tested positive. This case sparked the number of cases in Sector 30-B. Now, 16 positive contacts in the sector are within the neighbourhood of each other. The third wave shook Chandigarh on April 24 when a ward attendant at the GMCH-32, who hails from Bapu Dham Colony, tested positive for Covid. He is said to have infected 54 residents in the city, including three health workers of the GMCH.