An Analysis of Surat Municipal Corporation Covid-19 Updates
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AN ANALYSIS OF SURAT MUNICIPAL CORPORATION COVID-19 UPDATES A Puzzle Unsolved People’s Union for Civil Liberties Surat District Unit, Gujarat Email: [email protected], Ph: +91-9426608075 Published In Public service on June 21, 2020 Background The Covid-19 pandemic has had its effects world over. From developed to developing nations, big or small is fighting the Covid-19 crisis. Each country is having its own mix of measures to contain and arrest the spread of covid-19. The Government of India under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi choose to implement strict lockdown as a sudden measure. The Prime Minister called for Janata Curfew (Voluntary Curfew) on March 22, 2020 through his address on March 20, 2020. The first lockdown of 21 days (3 weeks) was suddenly announced on 8pm of March 24, 2020 with a notice of just about 4 hours to start from 00.00hrs on March 25, 2020. Subsequently, the lockdown was extended into phase 2 (April 15, 2020 to May 3, 2020), phase 3 (May 5, 2020 to May 17, 2020) & phase 4 further till May 31, 2020. Now we are into phase 5 of lockdown, which is christened as Unlock 1 with partial opening of commercial and industrial activities. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued its first advisory regarding Covid- 19 on February 4, 2020 to Chief Secretaries of all States/UTs (Annexure 1). Even after this, there was a major international program ‘Namaste Trump’ organised in Gujarat to welcome US President Donald Trump on February 24, 2020. As a measure of caution International Passengers from few countries were screened, while others were not. The Indian State response to the pandemic is adhoc and inconsistent. Despite India’s federal structure, Indian Government consulted Chief Ministers very late, and did not take them into confidence in time. Union Government says we are into Unlock phase 1, but there is no coherence in the unlock policies adopted by various states. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is time and again instructing States to follow different models (Kerala, Bhilwara, Agra, Karnataka), this keeps changing from time to time. Despite Covid-19 cases increasing rampantly in Gujarat, especially in Ahmedabad, the Covid-19 dashboard for Gujarat state - https://gujcovid19.gujarat.gov.in/ no longer works and the daily press briefing on Covid-19 situation by the state government was suspended long ago. India has seen a substantial increase in the number of Covid-19 positive cases all through the phases of lockdown. We have neared 4 lakh cases as of June 21, 2020. The first lockdown was imposed to augment the health facilities and contain the spread of infection in the country and prepare to face a full blown crisis, if such time has to come. Indian Government claims partial success in containing the immediate spread of Covid-19, but is non-committal on its efforts to arrest the spread. Now with the opening of the commercial and industrial activities in Unlock phase 1, the number of cases are rapidly increasing. While the Indian Government is saying that the increasing rate of recovery and falling death ratio is reassuring. 2 Cases Surat1 Gujarat2 India3 Mar 25, 2020 6 32 606 Apr 14, 2020 83 536 10815 May 3, 2020 678 3897 40263 May 17, 2020 1094 6055 90927 May 31, 2020 1662 6106 182143 Covid-19 situation in Surat: Disaster of Management instead of Disaster Management Surat is one of the fastest growing urban centre in India. With the diamond, textile and also other heavy industries in Surat there is a substantial migrant population in the city and peripheral areas. With a population of approx 6 million (60 lakhs) it is the second most populous city in Gujarat. Surat saw its first Covid-19 case on March 16, 2020 when a London returnee lady was found infected, since then there has been steady increase in the number of positive Covid-19 cases in Surat, which has crossed 3000 mark. The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) started regular Covid-19 updates4 in the form of press release from April 16, 2020. The details provided on the measures and spread of Covid-19 in the city were gradually curtailed. The SMC commissioner has discontinued his daily address through Facebook (It was always one way communication). Transparency at times of crisis helps in lowering the anxiety and false news among the citizens. The daily statistics release of Covid-19 updates by SMC is a welcome step. It helps in keeping the citizens informed about the efforts of the authorities and impact of the pandemic on citizens. Numbers, statistics and parameters when seen in isolation reflect differently than when seen comprehensively. They are correlated. To properly understand the impact of the strategy adopted, the daily updates and statistics provided by the authorities are to be seen comprehensively over a timeline. The present effort is in this direction and it attempts to see the daily Covid-19 related announcement and press releases by the SMC in a perspective and consolidated manner over a period from April 16, 2020 till May 31, 2020. It also aims at providing feedback to the authorities and demanding required course correction. 1. http://office.suratmunicipal.org/SuratCOVID19/ 2. https://science.thewire.in/covid19 3. https://science.thewire.in/covid19 4. http://office.suratmunicipal.org/SuratCOVID19/ 3 We have tried to put the daily data published for Covid-19 on a time scale and tried to understand how things have evolved. However the daily gloomy picture, turned into confusion and queries when all the data was put together. We have relied on Indian Government data where it is available, other secondary sources when there is no data available on Government website. The observation has been that there is absence of coherence in the data provided by SMC through its daily Covid-19 updates and data put up on Covid-19 dashboard on SMC website. The analysis reveals that there is more confusion then clarity. It points towards lack of coherent strategy to fight the pandemic and its impacts. The unplanned approach to the pandemic situation has been evident in every manner. Surat was one of the worst affected cities by the humanitarian distress caused to lakhs of migrant and non-migrant workers. PUCL, Surat made several written and personal representations to peruse the authorities to deploy measures to ease life for the migrants and the labour class in a sensitive and sensible manner. As across Gujarat in Surat too the handling of Covid-19 crisis has turned out to be Disaster of Management instead of Disaster Management. PUCL Surat wrote a letter to the authorities on June 3, 2020 seeking clarification regarding the mismatch in the Covid-19 data provided, however the letter is yet to be acknowledged, let alone responded (Annexure 2). 4 Index Page Acknowledgements 6 1. Surat Testing 7-9 2. Surat Positive Tests 10-12 3. Surat Zonewise Positive Cases 13 3.1. Central 13-14 3.2. Varachha A 15-16 3.3. Varachha B 17-18 3.4. Rander 19-20 3.5. Katargam 21-22 3.6. Limbayat 23-24 3.7. Udhna 25-26 3.8. Athwa 27-28 4. Recommendation 29 5. Annexures 30-37 Annexure 1 30 Annexure 2 31-36 5 Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge the support and motivation for this report by Rohit Prajapati, National Secretary, PUCL. He is a friend, philosopher and guide to me. Also this report would not have been possible in its form without the vital inputs and edits by Ayesha Khan. I also thank my associates and colleagues from the press fraternity, civil society, political class and officials who work hard anonymously; all a constant source of strength and support in such public spirited endeavours. Krishnakant Chauhan Surat, June 21, 2020. 6 1. SURAT TESTING The Government of India through its department of Health & Family Welfare, have been issuing Covid-19 guidelines from time to time. The basic strategy to contain and arrest the spread of the pandemic in India was announced in terms of 3T – Tracking, Testing & Treating. However later it has recommended various models from time to time – Bhilwara Model, Kerala Model, Karnataka Model, Agra Model, etc. In the High Court of Gujarat in Suo-Moto PIL 42 of 2020, the Advocate General of Gujarat, Kamal Trivedi argued that if more testing would have been done, 70% of Ahmedabad would test Covid-19 positive5. This starkly points that the announced strategy and implemented strategy of Gujarat government is both different and contradictory. On June 18, 2020 Gujarat conducted approx 4500 tests6 with a cumulative total of 2,87,647 tests. At this rate the testing ratio during the lockdown period is 48.47 tests per million for a 6.93 crore population of Gujarat. Thus, the government has pursued Specificity Testing. During the initial stages of the outbreak, when we were in short supply of testing kits this strategy was justified. However with the increase in availability of the testing kits the testing ratio has not improved much. Gujarat government has not moved from Specificity Testing to High Sensitivity Testing7. In Surat, authorities claimed Screening exercise in a door to door survey. But the health department surveyors, comprising of untrained ANM workers or nursing college staff were not given any equipment, not even a handheld thermal scanner. The door to door screening was dependent only on oral response from the head of the family or whoever was present at the home. In Surat, till the end of second lockdown 13,578 tests were conducted, assuming all this tests were conducted during lockdown period, it is about 340 tests per day.