COVID-19 is a serious risk in flood areas as finding one’s way out of an inundated locality takes precedence over everything else. Surrounded by swirling waters, one barely thinks of wearing masks or maintaining physical distancing, even though contracting the virus is very much a possibility. However, curiously enough, COVID cases in the State have not seen a spike despite the recent floods.
Nirmal is one of the districts which witnessed deluge nearly 10 days ago. The district administration, along with volunteers, used rafts to rescue people from submerged localities on July 22 and 23. National Disaster Response Force personnel also participated in the rescue operations.
Yet, the district continues to record single digit cases post-floods just like it has been since mid-July, indicating a strange stability in infection rates.
The same, peculiar situation was observed when several localities in and around Hyderabad were flooded in October last year. Experts had feared a spike in coronavirus cases as people’s focus shifted from COVID safety norms to survival. Rapid Antigen Tests were conducted on people who were rescued and taken to rehabilitation centres. However, surprisingly and much to everyone’s relief, the cases did not rise in the aftermath of the floods.
Fever survey
Nirmal District Medical and Health Officer Cherupally Dhanraj said multiple health programmes are being conducted to track people’s condition.
“Fever surveys are being conducted regularly. National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme is also under way to understand the prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases. Health camps were organised in inundated localities. Around 1,000 tests are conducted in a day. All of this helps us know if someone has fever and needs further medical tests. We are, however, recording only single-digit COVID cases,” Dr Dhanraj said.
