With pat from PM, HP aims to be Covid-free

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 29

As Himachal aims to become corona-free with only 10 active cases, the state’s fight with corona has been lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has asked other states to emulate its strategy.

Himachal, which so far has 40 corona cases, now has just 10 active cases with most patients being in a healthy condition and on way to recovery. “Had it not been for the over two dozen cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaatis, Himachal would not have had so many cases,” Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had remarked.

Himachal has become the first state to effectively undertake Active Case Finding (ACF) campaign which has helped in screening of entire 70 lakh population for any Influenza like symptoms. The maximum number of 1,800 flu cases was detected during door-to-door “active case finding” in Kangra district, followed by Sirmaur (1,300) and Chamba (1,000). Also, 700 out of about 9,900 identified flu cases were sent for Covid-19 testing.

Interestingly, two cases from Hamirpur district, a migrant woman from UP and a school owner from Nadaun, tested positive after the samples were randomly tested as they came to get treatment at the flu clinic at Hamirpur medical college.

So far more than 5,775 persons have been tested with the facility being available at the medical colleges in Shimla, Tanda, Ner Chowk, Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli, and the Institute of Himalayan Bio-technology at Palampur, said RD Dhiman, Additional Chief Secretary, Health.

A big cause of worry, however, is that 80 per cent of the 40 cases in Himachal were asymptomatic, raising threat of spreading the virus among more people.

If all goes well, Himachal could be declared corona free within a week as the 10 positive patients are fast on their way to recovery.