Kasaragod Model

Why in News?

The Centre showcased the contact tracing and containment model of Kerala’s Kasaragod as a successful containment exercise.

Why showcase Kasaragod?

• Kasaragod reported the third case of COVID-19 in the country - a student airlifted from Wuhan on February 3.
• The district administration mounted a massive exercise to trace the 150-odd contacts of that one student.
• Kasaragod had 169 cases and zero deaths until April 19.
• Of these, 123 people had already recovered.
• Most of the cases were of those who had caught the virus during their travels abroad and those who returned from the Middle East.

What is the Kasaragod model?

• The district administration relied on aggressive testing, technology, foolproof contact tracing, etc., to achieve the results it can now show.
• The state government appointed a special officer to,
  1. Coordinate functioning of the district administration.
  2. Coordinate between departments at field and secretariat levels.
• Section 144 was imposed in the entire district, with 7 drones employed for surveillance.
• Under the Care for Kasaragod initiative, a common coordinated action plan was drawn up for combating COVID-19.

What was this action plan?

• All quarantined people were tracked using GPS.
• All essentials were home-delivered in the containment zones.
• A campaign on social distancing called “Break the Chain” was carried out to deliver the message of social distancing.
• Core teams were formed with incident commanders to rush to various areas and take quick action.
• The plan was carried out with a very strong social welfare component, which included free food kits for the poor and migrant workers.

• Health checkup was carried out on alternate days for migrants or the destitute. There is a 709-bed COVID-19 care centre.
• ASHAs and health inspectors carried out household surveys.

What are the other successful models?

• Agra Model: The district administration identified epicentres.
• They delineated the impact of positive confirmed cases on the map.
• A special task force was deployed as per a micro plan made by the district administration.
• The hotspot area was identified within a 3 km radius from the epicentre.
• They were managed through an active survey and containment plan.
• A 5 km buffer zone was identified as the containment zone.
• Bhilwara Model: This entailed complete isolation of Bhilwara city with Section 144 CrPC being imposed.
• The shutdown was total with the city and district borders sealed and checkposts at every entry and exit point.
• Pathanamthitta Model: Every person who had entered the district was screened.
• A database was created so that they could be reached at short notice.
• Graphics were created showing the travel route of the positive cases and publicised. This led to self-reporting.

Source: The Indian Express