A woman supervisor of a quarantine centre, who tested positive in Odisha’s Kalahandi district, had come in contact with over a hundred persons including the people in her village and residents on the periphery.
At least eight villages are now under the Covid scanner as the infected woman being a worker in a livelihood mission socialised with many women. She could turn out to be a super spreader.
The 35-year-old woman who played the role of a supervisor of a temporary medical camp in Basantapada under Lanjigarh block tested positive for Covid-19 along with six other inmates of the quarantine centre.
The woman most probably contracted the disease from the inmates who were Surat and Chattishgarh returnees.
The infected woman’s native village has been declared as a containment zone while six other adjoining villages served as a buffer zone as part of the drive to contain the spread of the contagion.
Nasal swab samples were collected on Friday from over a hundred persons including her family members. During contact-tracing exercises, the Kalahandi district administration was surprised to find so many people coming in contact with woman and her family members during lockdown.
At least 60 persons were found to have come in direct contact with the woman, said officials.
Eleven positive cases including the woman were detected on 20 May in Kalahandi district. Before her test report was received, she had even attended a block level training programme.
The health department officers are at their wits end over contact tracing and none could hazard a guess on how many people had come in contact with the woman. CMDO Jagulal Agarwal said the contacts of the woman are being segregated and swabs collected for test.
On 20th May the district collector had declared Bundel village under Basantpada panchayat of Lanjigarh block as a containment zone and seven villages under the panchayat as buffer zones.
The declaration was made after the service provider in Basantapada TMC was traced to be Coronavirus positive. She was staying in Bundel village.