Contact tracing of covid-19 cases for early detection of infection in tertiary care hospital, Pune

ABSTRACT

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30th Jan 2020 and later declared it as pandemic on 11th March 2020. Community surveillance plays a significant role in the prevention of the spread of disease. The government of India’s focus has been on community surveillance activities which mainly comprises contact tracing and quarantine. Objective: To explore high risk and low-risk contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to a Tertiary Care Center, Pune. To find out the secondary attack rate of COVID-19 cases and To study demographic characters of COVID-19 cases. Methods: Observational cross-sectional study was done in the Tertiary Care Center, where isolation of suspected cases and management of COVID-19 positive patients was done. Details about patients such as age, sex, residence, history of contact with COVID-19 patient, history of travel to COVID-19 affected case was taken by taking the interview. Data were analyzed by Epi-info version 7.2.1.0. The statistical Tests used was the chi-square test. Results: Male patients were more as compared to females. There was a significant association between co-morbidities and deaths of COVID-19 patients. Family members were the most affected contacts of cases(63.16%). 23 families have secondary cases in their homes. The highest secondary attack rate was found to be 83.33% in 2 families. Conclusion: Family members were the most affected contacts of cases (63.16%) followed by health care workers. There was no significant difference between deaths among male and female cases. 23 families(19%) had secondary cases in their homes. The secondary attack rate ranged from 9% to 83.33%, with a median of 24.26%. © IJCRR.