SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, April 20: The officials of the Dhanbad health department are on toes after 23 days after a Covid-19 infected patient was detected in a private hospital in the district.
Integrated Diseases Surveillance Programme (IDSP) officer Dr Rajkumar Singh said that during a routine check of a cancer patient (60-year-old), he was found Covid positive in TruNat test at Jamadoba Hospital of Tata Collieries Jharia division.
The last positive case of Covid-19 was found in Dhanbad on March 28. As per officials, only after three weeks, a district is declared Covid-19 free.
The IDSP officer said that the infection ratio in patients was found very low and it might not have been detected in the RT-PCR test. Sometimes, TruNat’s positive result comes negative in the RT-PCR test. Due to cancer ailment, the immunity of the patient is believed to be weak and it may have caused the infection.
“The patient had already been kept in the isolation ward before detection of the Covid infection. A team from the district health department has been sent to Jamadoba hospital to gather his travel history as he had visited several places in course of his treatment,” said Dr Singh.
The IDSP official said that a separate team has been constituted for contract tracing of the patient in the hospital as well as for his family members who had been in his touch.
“Despite not getting any infected person in the district for the last 23 days, the health department did not have a lenient attitude in the anti-Covid drive. It rather intensified in samples collection, testing and vaccination. Now, we would press in more strength in the campaign after detection of the new case,” he said.
