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So far 334 “super-spreading” coronaviruses have been found in Ahmedabad, and is the main reason for the order to keep grocery and vegetable stores closed until May 15, officials said Sunday.
“Super propagators” are carriers of infectious diseases that can transmit the pathogen to large numbers of people.
They could be vegetable vendors, grocery and milk store owners, gasoline pump managers, or garbage collectors, who by the nature of their work are at risk of becoming infected and infecting others.
As of Saturday, Gujarat reported 7,797 positive coronavirus cases and 472 deaths. Of these, Ahmedabad has only reported 5,540 cases and 363 deaths.
An official here said he believes there are around 14,000 potential high-risk super spreaders in the city, and they have decided to examine them all in the next three days.
A similar exercise has also been carried out in the suburbs and rural areas of the district, he said.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has started attacking these people since April 20 as part of active surveillance, and so far has collected 3,817 samples from such suspects, of which 334 were positive, the official said.
After the owner of a supply store in the Vejalpur area here tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday, all customers who visited the store in the past 15 days to make purchases were asked to remain in quarantine, the official said.
In the town of Dholka, outside Ahmedabad, a watermelon vendor was found to be coronavirus positive during a similar screening exercise and was identified as a super spreader.
About 96 people, who were his primary and secondary contacts, mostly family members, fellow vendors, and regulars, were quarantined. Of these, 12 tested positive for Covid-19, district development officer Arun Mahesh Babu said.
Additional chief secretary Rajiv Gupta, who is appointed to supervise, monitor and coordinate coronavirus-related work in the city, said nearly 2,000 suspected super spreaders were examined in two days after the AMC ordered the closure of all stores, except milk and medicines, in the city for one week from May 7.
“All suspects will be examined on Wednesday,” said the official.
The city has been put under total blockade until then.
The AMC has also made it mandatory for store and supermarket owners and staff to undergo their medical exams by approaching their respective neighborhoods and obtain “health test cards” based on test results.
Both city and Ahmedabad district administrations have launched the exercise to assess all super spreaders to ensure they are not at risk of transmission before going out to operate in the market, and also to regulate the number of such vendors. authorities said.
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