‘Contact tracing, surveillance key to controlling pandemic’

Virus likely to stay, but can be contained through responsible human behaviour, says epidemiologist

Good public health practice entails “contact tracing and surveillance” as they are the key to handling a pandemic like COVID-19. And, lessons can be learnt how countries like South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have managed to control the outbreaks to small numbers and prevented community transmission, said David Heymann, medical epidemiologist and professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Rapid detection and response are very important. Contact training and surveillance will help us keep track of new outbreaks forwards and backwards, in keeping the virus transmission under check with local shutdowns when there is community transmission,” he said, participating in a webinar organised by Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH)-Hyderabad of the Public Health Foundation of India, on the weekend. Mr Heymann underscored the need to have local communities forming the crucial base for responding to a pandemic as “contact tracing cannot be done centrally”. The experience of United Kingdom, Europe and even United States is that unlike the countries mentioned above, they “waited and watched till the healthcare systems got overwhelmed”.