Karnataka mulls strict home quarantine vigilance

As Karnataka’s official count of Omicron cases reached 14 on Saturday evening, authorities are considering bringing back the strict home isolation inspections and reintroduce the Quarantine Watch and Contact Tracing apps to tackle a potential third wave.

Munish Moudgil, director of the State Covid War Room, said rigorous home isolation visits are set to resume “almost immediately” and the “logistics are being worked out.”

The issue has risen to prominence over the lack of guidelines to ensure that people restricted to home isolation are complying with all protocols. “At the moment, there are no follow-ups being done to determine how many people are adhering to regulations in some districts,” Moudgil said.

In Bengaluru, for example, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) noted that 2,703 cases had been recorded in the last 14 days, out of which about 2,400 were in home isolation. Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said each ward has one home isolation inspection team to conduct inspections. “Due to strict vigilance, numbers have been kept low in the BBMP,” he said.

However, sources said the inspection teams, made up of Asha workers, contract workers, data entry operators and even swab collectors, are used for multiple roles and are likely to become swamped in the event of a case spike. “It is better to bifurcate roles and have dedicated teams for each role, such as contact tracing and home isolation visits,” an official said.

At the moment, about 300 personnel are needed in the state for the sole purpose of conducting home isolation visitations. In light of Omicron’s higher rate of spread, more could be required.

If cases spike, the state would need a substantial number of inspection teams and contact tracing personnel. Sources said in the first wave, the state had 60,000 people for various such tasks. This included 8,000 to 15,000 citizen volunteers plus Home Guards.

The official added that Home Guards will likely be brought back for the job.

According to Moudgil, one inspection person is ideally required per positive case isolating at home, plus another person for contact tracing. “In the second wave, most of contract tracing and home visitations were done by teachers in booth level committees,” he added.

However, with schools having reopened, getting teachers to resume this Covid work could be difficult.

Dr R Vishal, commissioner for Public Instruction, stated that deputing teachers back to Covid-19 work may not be possible. “Not only is there a shortage of teachers but schools have started and there are ongoing preparations for exams,” he said.

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