Coronavirus lockdown resulted in 'decreased' tuberculosis transmission say experts

Contrary to the perception, the lockdown has resulted in 'decreased transmission' of TB in the country, according to the experts.

''Decreased movement, wearing of face masks, physical distancing and cough etiquette have proven to be big factors in bringing down TB transmission during the lockdown,'' said Prof Surya Kant, a member of the executive committee, National Task Force for TB Elimination.

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Speaking to DH, Prof Surya Kant said that it was 'wrong' to think that the drop in the notifications of TB cases during lockdown signalled an increase in the transmission.

Dr Surya Kant said that a majority of TB patients visited the district TB centres during this period instead of visiting tertiary care centres in the cities.

''The only problem faced during the period (lockdown) was concerned with lack of proper follow-up, including X-Ray, culture and liver function tests,'' he said.

He said that during the lockdown, instead of daily supervised administration of anti-TB drugs, one-month medicines were provided to the patients.

Read: India notified 24.04 lakh tuberculosis cases: Annual report

Surya Kant said that the need of the hour is to strengthen Drug Resistance TB Centres at the districts. ''We already have 3-4 bed hospitalisation facility,'' he added.

He went on to say that the objective was to reduce the number of TB patients coming down to the tertiary care centres and encourage them to visit the centres in their districts. ''It will result in less movement and hence reduced risk of transmission,'' he added.

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UP government was also planning to introduce public-private partnership programs to engage private health care providers across the state. It would improve access to TB care as many patients visited the private sector for health services.

The remarks assume significance as they reject reports expressing apprehensions that the drop in notifications of the TB cases during the current situation was worrying and was one of the examples of TB services being affected due to pandemic.

Follow: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on July 6

In UP alone the number of TB cases reported in January this year stood at 40,087. This number came down drastically to 16,427 in May, when the lockdown was already in force.