Maharashtra: Isolation of 119 in village in Nanded breaks Covid-19 chain

Photo used for representational purpose. Pic/AFP

Bhosi, a village in Maharashtra's Nanded district, has set an example of how to break the chain of Covid-19 pandemic in rural areas and save villagers from the impact of the deadly disease.

The village of 6,000 people in the Bhokar taluka of Nanded showed the way of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic by simply adopting the path of isolating the infected.

All residents of the village cooperated in the endeavour and managed to defeat the Covid-19 onslaught in next 20 days of adopting the method that grabbed attention of the Central government as well.

Two months ago, after a wedding ceremony, a girl of the village was found infected with coronavirus. Subsequently, five more were found Covid-19 positive the following week, leading to a commotion in the whole village.

At this time, Zilla Parishad member Prakash Deshmukh Bhosikar took the initiative to organise a health camp in the village in coordination with the Gram Panchayat and the Health Department to conduct Covid-19 tests.

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Rapid Antigen Test and RT-PCR tests revealed that 119 people were Covid-19 positive. Then, it was decided to isolate these patients to break the chain of Covid-19 spreading to others.

Accordingly, all the infected people were persuaded to go and live on their fields for a period of 15-17 days, as mandated by the guidelines of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for people with mild infections. Among them, farm labourers and others who did not own their farm land, were accommodated in a makeshift shed on Bhosikar's own farm land.

Asha, the village health worker and Anganwadi sevika, would visit the fields every day and interact with patients. Food and medicines were also provided.

"After 15 to 20 days of isolation, the villagers returned home as corona-free persons only after a health check-up," said Union Health Ministry, which circulated a message to other villagers follow such methods to avoid spread of Covid-19.

Bhosikar said that a month and a half has passed since then and no new patient has been found in the village.

"Covid-19 can be fought effectively by adopting the age-old path of isolation - as was being done during the days of plague - even in villages without adequate health facilities," he said.

Lakshmibai Akkemwad, who spent a fortnight in quarantine on the fields, said "separation is the only way to save the villagers from getting infected".

Nanded Zilla Parishad CEO Varsha Thakur Ghuge said that the Bhosi pattern is a good example of joint coordination between the villagers, people's representatives and the administration, worthy of implementation in other villages of the district and elsewhere.

As fresh challenges are being posed with the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic spreading to rural areas, the method adopted by residents of Bhosi village is really a laudable effort at a time when 2,57,72,440 people (including 31,29,878 active cases) have so far been infected and 2,87,122 have succumbed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned about this and said, "creating awareness about Covid-19 among rural people and cooperation of Panchayat Raj institutions are equally important".

Preventing the spread of Covid-19 in rural is a relatively complicated process due to the lack of testing facilities and health infrastructure, as compared to urban areas.

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