334 COVID-19 'super-spreaders' found in Ahmedabad: Official

Ahmedabad, May 10 () As many as 334 coronavirus'super-spreaders' have been found in Ahmedabad so far, and itis the main reason for the order to keep shops of groceriesand vegetables closed till May 15, officials said on Sunday.

'Super-spreaders' are the infectious disease carrierswho could transmit the pathogen to a large number of people.

They could be vegetable vendors, grocery and milk shopowners, petrol pump attendants or garbage collectors, who bythe nature of their job carry the risk of getting infected andinfecting others.

Till Saturday, Gujarat reported 7,797 coronaviruspositive cases and 472 deaths. Of these, Ahmedabad alone hasreported 5,540 cases and 363 deaths.

An official here said they believe there are around14,000 high-risk potential super-spreaders in the city, andthey have decided to screen all of them in next three days.

A similar exercise has also been undertaken in thesuburbs and rural areas of the district, he said.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) startedtargeting such people from April 20 as part of activesurveillance, and has so far collected 3,817 samples of suchsuspects, out of whom 334 turned out to be positive, theofficial said.

After a provision store owner in Vejalpur area heretested positive for coronavirus on Saturday, all customers whovisited the store over last 15 days to make purchases wereasked to remain home quarantined, the official said.

In Dholka town on Ahmedabad outskirts, a watermelonvendor was found coronavirus positive during a similarscreening exercise, and was identified as a super-spreader.

Nearly 96 people, who were his primary and secondarycontacts, mostly family members, fellow vendors and regularcustomers, were quarantined. Of them, 12 tested positive forCOVID-19, district development officer Arun Mahesh Babu said.

Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Gupta, appointed thefor supervision, monitoring and coordination of works relatedto coronavirus in the city, said nearly 2,000 suspectedsuper-spreaders were screened in two days after the AMCordered closure of all shops, except milk and medicines, inthe city for a week from May 7.

"All the suspects will be tested by Wednesday," theofficial said.

The city has been placed under complete lockdown tillthat time.

The AMC has also made it mandatory for owners andstaff of shops and super markets to get their medicalscreening done by approaching their respective wards, andobtain 'health screening cards' based on test results.

Both the Ahmedabad city and district administrationshave undertaken the exercise to screen all super-spreaders toensure they do not carry the risk of transmission before theygo out to operate in the market, and also to regulate thenumber of such vendors, officials said. KA PDGK GK