In Pune’s rural areas, not a single positive Covid case in over 1,000 villages

According to officials, under this mission, "coordinated effort, strict monitoring and tough initiatives" helped in battling the disease, as a result of which 1,100 villages out of 1,405 have not recorded a single Covid-19 case in the last four months.

Even as civic bodies in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad are under fire for struggling to check the spread of Covid-19, the scenario in Pune district’s rural areas, comprising 13 talukas, is completely different. Government officials, under district collectorate and zilla parishad, have claimed that through their ‘Catch the virus’ mission, they have succeeded in effectively containing the spread of the viral infection caused by the novel coronavirus.

According to officials, under this mission, “coordinated effort, strict monitoring and tough initiatives” helped in battling the disease, as a result of which 1,100 villages out of 1,405 have not recorded a single Covid-19 case in the last four months.

“We have not seen a single positive case; which means, so far, not a single resident in over 1,000 villages has tested positive for the virus,” said Pune Zilla Parishad CEO Ayush Prasad.

Prasad said most of the positive cases emerged in villages close to Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad, and in those located along the highways. “The disease spread to these villages due to people returning from cities like Pune and Mumbai, constant movement from villages to city areas and back, movement of essential service providers like doctors, nurses, compounders, and vegetable vendors, and also those who attended marriages or social ceremonies,” he said.

While Pune city has recorded 39,000 cases since March, Pimpri-Chinchwad has 10,000 cases. In contrast, rural areas with a population of 40 lakh recorded only 2,300 cases. When it comes to mortality rate too, rural areas have performed better with fewer deaths recorded at 52. While in Pune city, the number of deaths crossed 1,000 on Monday, Pimpri-Chinchwad has recorded 240.

“Our mortality rate has remained less than 1 per cent,” Prasad said, adding that Pune city’s mortality rate was over 2 per cent, while Pimpri-Chinchwad’s was 1.85 per cent.

Officials in rural areas attributed their success to ‘Catch the virus’ mission adopted soon after a lockdown was imposed in March. Prasad said they started by identifying people moving up and down from Pune and Mumbai to their villages and those involved in transport-related work.

“We got a self-declaration form signed from them that when they return to their villages they should not move around, visit marketplaces, and compulsorily wear masks. Besides, we also carried out extensive testing on people returning to villages from outside,” he said.

He further said people returning to villages from Mumbai or Pune were put under home quarantine at a massive scale. “We had zero local transmisison before June 23 because we ensured that those who worked outside were home quarantined as soon as they returned,” he added.

He also said mandatory use of mask was another successful strategy. “In Shirur taluka, we collected Rs 3.5 lakh as penalty for moving around without mask. In Indapur, we collected Rs 1.62 lakh. We left it to local officials to decide the penalty amount, ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 500. This acted as a deterrent,” Prasad said.

In rural areas, tracking of co-morbid citizens or those with other existing diseases, and ensuring they stayed home quarantined was also helpful, Prasad said.

“We identified 5,90,000 co-morbid citizens through Asha workers and teachers, who worked for four hours daily, using pulse oximeter and thermal guns. We had all the details of their condition, so that we could constantly monitor them,” he said.

Contact tracing was another aspect in which the authorities remained proactive. “Our strategy was to trace as many people as possible in contact with a positive case. In Purandar on Monday, we traced 60 high-risk contacts. The maximum we have traced in recent days are 110 people,” Prasad said.

Containment zones were also effective in rural areas. “We declared containment zones in densely populated gram panchayats like Hinjewadi, Wagholi, and Chakan. These areas were under containment for two months and not a single positive case was detected during this period,” Prasad said.

District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said, “Both cities had more cases than rural areas right from the beginning. Conditions are different in rural and city areas. In city areas, population density is high as people live in congested areas, and there are a large number of slums and chawls. In villages, people don’t live in a congested manner, and there is less movement in rural areas,” he said.

The collector, however, said, “Officials in rural areas have done an outstanding job,” adding, “it is not that officials in city areas have not put in effort. They too have tried hard but due to high population density and poor adherence to distancing norms, they have not been able to contain the spread of the disease as much.”

Former Shirur MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil, however, said more rigorous steps were needed to ensure cases did not rise in future. He also alleged poor law enforcement in rural areas. “Coordination between police and the administration is poor. Police are not strictly enforcing the law. Both should coordinate and take effective steps,” he said.