Even as no one is being tested as part of a house-to-house survey to track Covid-19 cases, about 650 persons exhibiting likely symptoms have been identified by the Chandigarh health department, which aims to cover the city’s entire population of around 12 lakh.

About 586 cases are being monitored daily by the medical officer, it has been learnt, as the administration puts the onus of responsibility on the citizens to be forthcoming with their health details.

Till date, a population of 9.92 lakh from 2.53 lakh households has been covered by 1,291 teams.

“It’s a survey, not a screening,” said Dr Sangeeta, who goes by one name, from the department. “The intention is to give people locked down in their homes a sense of comfort that the health department is there for them. Health workers are approaching them at the doorsteps. It’s the social responsibility of the residents to reveal details,” she said.

“No samples are being taken,” she said.

The survey is being conducted on the pattern of pulse polio campaign with the city divided into four zones. Hotspots are covered first, followed by colonies and then sectors.

“About 150 auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) are deployed in the field, with one ANM and one beldar (local worker) in each team. They have been given a set of questions to ask and it’s the responsibility of the people to come forward and share details if there’s any symptomatic case,” Dr Sangeeta added.

About 650 symptomatic cases have been traced and follow-up of 586 is being done daily by the medical officer of the area. Of the remaining 67, she said either they were not at home or their houses were locked so they were not being tracked.

On the ANMs, Dr G Dewan, director, health services, said, “They are doing a wonderful job and it should be appreciated by city residents. They are not doctors as we cannot employ doctors for field survey. The ANMs are going from house to house to save time and are filling forms only for symptomatic cases. We are following these cases daily.”

The survey is likely to be completed by the weekend. “It’s on the pattern suggested by the Union ministry and we will be putting it forth to see if it can be used in other parts as well,” said Dr Shivani Gupta, World Health Organization consultant, Chandigarh.

Illegal gambling activities and hookah parties organised by well-knit groups amid the ongoing lockdown, not giving two hoots for the social-distancing norms, have emerged as the key reasons behind turning Rajpura into Punjab’s new Covid-19 hotspot.

As many as 18 residents tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday alone.

The town, located 26km from the Patiala district headquarters, has reported 30 positive cases so far, with the health department on Thursday collecting 35 more samples from the ‘containment zones’.

“Most of the 18 persons found positive yesterday are contacts of each other. Many of the men are believed to have met at gambling parties recently,” an official said.

Click here for the complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic

Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said, “It came to the fore during investigation that they held frequent get-togethers on a vacant plot near Anaj Mandi. Many residents of the locality confirmed that a group of men would remain there for hours.”

The infection spread after a group of 5-6 men involved in illegal activities like gambling continued to hold get-togethers and arranged liquor and hookah parties on multiple occasions even after the lockdown came into force, another official said.

Police have booked Krishan Kumar and Balraj, who tested positive for the coronavirus a day before, for allegedly endangering the life of fellow residents by violating curfew restrictions. The two travelled outstation before contracting the infection early this week, the SSP added.

A case was registered against them under Sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease endangering life), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule) and 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Disaster Management Act.

With this, the district’s tally has risen to 49 cases, of which 47 have been reported in the past one week only.

Town declared a buffer zone

In a tweet, Punjab special chief secretary KBS Sidhu said Rajpura town was notified as a ‘buffer zone’ by the district administration.

“Movement from Rajpura to Patiala has been restricted. The result of 40 samples taken from the town on Thursday will come on Friday,” Sidhu tweeted.

The local police on Sunday closed 15 of the total 38 border points leading to Chandigarh after the UT administration declared the entire city a containment zone.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nilambari Jagadale said, “Another 23 points are open for vehicles coming from nearby areas. Police personnel at these checkpoints will thermal scan all commuters entering the city.”

Since Saturday, 2,906 four-wheelers and 2,418 two-wheelers have entered the city from other cities. Among these, 250 four-wheelers and 189 scooterists were denied entry.

POINTS CLOSED

T-point near Punjab and Haryana civil secretariat leading to Nayagaon and Kansal

Togan barrier

Road connecting Maloya with Togan village

Sarangpur barrier

Jayanti Majri

Barrier near IRB Complex road, Sarangpur, towards village Padachh

Road from Manimajra towards Mansa Devi

Road from Mauli Jagran to Sector 17, Panchkula

Road from Mauli Jagran to Sectors 17/18, Panchkula

Road leading to Raipur Kalan

Road near Sectors 52/53

Badheri barrier

Dividing road near Sectors 55/56

Road dividing Sector 48C and D

Road dividing Sector 49C and D

While the two countries are not comparable, owing to population demographic variations, South Africa has conducted 1934 Covid-19 tests per million compared to India’s 291.

Bengaluru: India and South Africa implemented stringent lockdown measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 at around the same time. But not accounting for differences in socio-political, economic and population structures, the South African strategy of aggressive testing before and during the lockdown seems to have paid off, as the nation is now recording far fewer daily cases, despite being in lockdown for roughly the same period of time as India.

India went into a national lockdown on 24 March, 54 days after the country’s first confirmed case (30 January), while South Africa did so on 26 March, 21 days after its first case (5 March).

As of Monday morning, India has 17,615 active cases with 559 deaths while South Africa in comparison has just 3,158 cases with 54 deaths.

Impact of lockdown

While India and South Africa are not entirely comparable, owing to population demographic variations, there are lessons from the African nation’s response to the pandemic.

On the day the Indian lockdown commenced, the country had a total of 536 cases with 18 deaths. By contrast, South Africa had already reported 927 cases but no deaths on the day of its lockdown. The African country’s first reported death came the next day as case numbers crossed the 1,000 mark.

Nearly a month on from their respective lockdowns, India has had 17,079 newer cases while South Africa has recorded 2231 newer cases.

During the period of the lockdown so far, India has seen 541 new deaths, while S. Africa has had only 54.

But the testing data shows that now, India is recording upwards of 500 new cases each day, while South Africa is averaging at about 150 new cases a day. The highest spike South Africa saw was on the first day of its lockdown — a mere 243 new cases.

The key difference between the two countries has been the testing strategy.

India continued testing slowly, expanding the inclusion criteria in steps, even after the lockdown. New Delhi began testing those with symptoms but without travel history only on 9 April, a full 70 days after the first confirmed case and 15 days after the national lockdown began.

South Africa went the exact opposite way, ramping up testing and aggressively chasing the whole population. On day 15 of its national lockdown, the country had conducted 64,000 tests, a large part of which was done by the private sector.

Also read: Boris Johnson won’t have to pay hospital bills. And it’s not because he is PM

How SA kept numbers low

South Africa went into lockdown in 21 days of detecting its first patient. India had only three confirmed cases on 20 February, which was 21 days of its first detected case on 30 January.

By contrast, South Africa had already detected 900 cases before a full lockdown was announced. The increased number of cases, as compared to India, is likely due to increased, methodical testing.

South Africa tested rigorously.

By 7 February, the disease had not even entered the country, but its National Institute for Communicable Diseases had already conducted 42 tests, all of which were negative. By mid-February, again before the first positive case was confirmed, the government announced free testing at all state hospitals.

In just a week after its first case on 5 March, South Africa had already tested over 47,000 people. It now has the capacity to test 36,000 people a day through drive through test centres as well as at clinics and hospitals.

In all, as of 20 April, South Africa has conducted over 1,14,000 tests so far, within 50 days of the disease being in the country. The testing frequency measures at 1,934 tests per million people. By contrast, India has conducted over 4,00,000 tests — larger in number but only 291 tests per million, in the past 80 days that the disease has been in the country.

Also read: How Trump is dividing America as virus lockdown begins to hit his re-election campaign

Stages of lockdown

While the South African lockdown commenced on 26 March, President Cyril Ramaphosa had declared a national emergency and issued travel restrictions from 15 March.

Schools were closed down on 18 March, 13 days after the first case. On the same day, all government and parliamentary sessions and meetings were suspended.

A day later on 19 March, fearing panic buying, the government enforced price controls and limits on items, and price gougers were punished through a hefty fine or a year in jail.

Those who violated travel and transit bans were heavily fined too. Within seven days of lockdown, over 2,200 people were arrested for violating social distancing procedures. Even a minister was put on leave for two months for violating lockdown regulations.

But just like in India, the police in South Africa have come under criticism for excessive use of force. Nine people have reportedly died from police brutality so far.

The Rs-50,000 AEP will facilitate the evacuation of Covid patients in a fully sealed patient transfer capsule. It will also aid during normal operations.

New Delhi: The Navy has indigenously designed and made an Air Evacuation Pod (AEP) for safe evacuation of Covid-19 patients from remote locations.

Designed by the Naval Aircraft Yard (Kochi) under the Southern Naval Command (SNC), the AEP will facilitate the evacuation of patients in a fully sealed patient transfer capsule, ensuring there is no risk for cross infection to pilots and evacuation team and the need to sanitise the aircraft post evacuation, a government statement said Monday.

Talking about the development, a senior Navy officer told ThePrint that the AEP will not only aid during the pandemic, but also in normal operations of ships where casevac (casualty evacuation) from sea is an integral part.

“Where every kg counts in the range and endurance of an helicopter, a lightweight evacuation part would mean evacuating patients from farther out at sea,” said the officer on condition of anonymity.

The evacuation pod was designed under the guidance of the principal medical officer of the naval air station at Kochi, INS Garuda in consultation with specialists from the naval hospital INHS Sanjivani and SNC headquarters, according to the statement.

Made of aluminum, nitrile rubber and perspex, the AEP costs Rs 50,000 per unit.

“The highlight of the pod is that it weighs only 32 kg and has incurred a manufacturing cost of ₹50000/- which is only 1% of cost of an imported equivalent item (Rs 59Lakhs),” said the statement.

It further added that trials of evacuating patients inside AEP were successfully completed on 8 April aboard Indian Navy’s Advance Light Helicopter (ALH) and Dornier aircraft at SNC.

So far, 12 AEPs are planned for distribution across Southern, Western, Eastern and Andaman and Nicobar Naval commands.

Also read: DRDO develops product to prevent spread of air droplets to doctors from Covid-19 patients

Navy’s other indigenous designs

Amid a deepening Covid-19 crisis in the country, the Navy has been making several indigenous products to aid in the fight against the pandemic.

The Naval Dockyard in Mumbai has designed and developed its own low-cost handheld infrared-based temperature sensor for screening of personnel. The Visakhapatnam dockyard has manufactured a portable system that can supply oxygen to six people at a time.

The decision to develop handheld sensors was taken to overcome the scarcity of temperature guns, which are priced higher in the market due to the pandemic.

The Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold set up uses an industrial 6-way radial header to enable one jumbo size oxygen bottle to supply oxygen to six patients concurrently.

The Navy has also been maintaining its quarantine facilities and providing ration to stranded labourers during the Covid-19 crisis.

The Navy also said Tuesday that INS Dega of the Eastern Naval Command ensured that the joint-user airfield at Visakhapatnam remains open round the clock.

New Delhi: The Army has issued fresh directions to all its units across the country to adhere to a strict “no movement” order in the wake of the extension of the nationwide lockdown until 3 May, even as it allowed graded relaxation from 20 April.

According to the directions issued Thursday, all military establishments, cantonments, formation headquarters and units will observe strict “no movement” until 19 April. Only personnel connected with provision of essential services will be allowed to move in this period.

“This will not hinder any operational tasks of the formations or units which will be conducted with the requisite strength,” the order said.

However, the Directorate General Medical Services (Army) will continue to function at full strength. All medical establishments and hospitals will also continue functioning at full strength.

“It is about maintaining a delicate balance between what can be avoided and what cannot be,” a senior Army officer told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.

The Army, which has put severe restrictions on the movement of its personnel, training and even introduced work-from-home without affecting the operational necessity, is at the forefront of fighting India’s war against Covid-19.

Also read: Army advises personnel to use govt’s Aarogya Setu app, but with usual cyber precautions

What the instructions say

According to the latest order, only the military operations, military intelligence, operational logistics and strategic movement branches will function within the Army Headquarters to carry out operational and Covid-19 related tasks.

However, the duration of stay and strength within these branches will be at bare minimum.

The order added that the remaining branches will work from home and any specific task can be handled on a case-to-case basis.

Within command headquarters, only manpower, logistics and operations branch will function with skeletal staff, barring Northern and Eastern Command, where additionally the intelligence branch will also function.

The Army is also considering moving key appointments back to sensitive locations, with special permission to move by either road or special aircraft.

New Delhi: Two special military trains will run this week to meet Army’s operational requirements at the northern and the eastern command amid the lockdown.

Sources told ThePrint that five trains had initially been requested to facilitate troop movement. They added that pan-India routes were being worked out based on the number of troops travelling from various locations.

Of the two trains sanctioned, one will begin operations from Friday and head to Jammu from Bengaluru. The train will run through Belgaum, Secunderabad and Ambala.

The second train leaves Saturday from Bengaluru and will head to Guwahati through Belgaum, Secunderabad, Gopalpur, and Howrah and New Jalpaiguri Station in West Bengal.

Army sources said these two trains will enable decongestion of the Category A and B training establishments at Bengaluru, Belgaum, Secunderabad and Gopalpur as well as assist in operational preparedness of active formations deployed at the northern and eastern borders.

The defence service typically sees a constant movement of lakhs of troops across the country who are returning from or going on training or leave. The Army usually requests for military special trains when units move from one location to the other, either on deployment or training.

The Army is also considering moving key appointments back to sensitive locations, who would be given special permissions to travel either by road or special aircraft. Sources said the Army is also looking into charter flight options to move troops from Delhi and Chandigarh.

Also read: Army tells units to observe ‘no movement’ amid lockdown, graded relaxation from 20 April

When lockdown ends

At any given time, about 25 per cent of the 13 lakh-strong Indian Army is on staggered leave and thousands are on training, explained a senior Army officer. To manage the load on the transport infrastructure, reporting days vary, the officer added.

However, when the lockdown was announced on 24 March, all troop movement was suspended in view of the quickly spreading disease. When the lockdown is lifted, there will be a rush of troops reporting back to their bases.

“As the lockdown would be phased out, about two to two-and-a-half lakh troops on leave would be coming back to join their bases around the same time from across the country,” the senior officer said.

He said ensuring special trains for the troops will make sure other trains do not get overcrowded while also cutting down on the troops mingling with the crowd, and thus preventing any possible transmission, the officer added.

An earlier Army advisory stated that troops will report to their nearest military station in case transport is not available. The Army is now contemplating having troops screened and accordingly quarantined before being deployed to their respective units to ensure the disease doesn’t spread, said a second Army officer.

Only personnel due to rejoin units deployed in northern and eastern borders who have undergone mandatory quarantine period and are found medically fit will be accommodated on the special trains, sources said.

Kupwara: Army Chief General MM Naravane on Friday slammed Pakistan for “exporting terror” at a time when India and the world were fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

“While we are busy not only helping our own citizens but the rest of the world too by sending medical teams and exporting medicines. On the other hand, Pakistan is only exporting terror. This doesn’t auger well,” the Army Chief told ANI here. The Army Chief, who is on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir, to review LoC operations, said, “It is very unfortunate that at a time when the whole world and India is fighting the pandemic, our neighbour continues to foment trouble for us.”

The LoC in recent days has seen several ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

Recently, the Indian Army carried out precision strikes against terrorist launchpads in the Dudhniyal area in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The operation was undertaken by the force after a series of ceasefire violations and infiltration attempts by the Pakistan Army in the Keran sector.

The Indian Army also killed five terrorists who had infiltrated from the Keran sector on April 1.

The terrorists had used the same launch pad which was targeted and destroyed by the Army later on in Dudhniyal.

The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has caught the US Navy in its grip. The events surrounding the spread of coronavirus from three to more than 200 sailors onboard aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the sacking of its commanding officer ended with the resignation of acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly. The secretary had kicked up a storm after removing Captain Brett Crozier, who had leaked a letter seeking help from the US Navy to the media, calling the commanding officer “either too naive or too stupid”.

In my view the good captain had to go, not so much for the reasons cited by the acting Navy secretary, but for the failure of command. Under Crozier’s charge, the sailors onboard Roosevelt got infected probably through sailors on shore-leave in Da Nang, Vietnam, which the captain should have curtailed given that the Covid-19 precautionary measures had been ordered in the US Navy . A deployed strategic asset of the US Navy was rendered ineffective, a serious loss of reputation for the numero uno world power.

There is an unwritten norm in the armed forces across the world. Whether in peace or war, when things go wrong, particularly with respect to combat effectiveness for mission accomplishment, irrespective of the reasons or the circumstances, the commander on the spot has to go. The logic is that there is no second chance in war. Hence it is often said that apart from professional excellence, a commander has to be lucky about things beyond his control.

Also read: Indian Navy veterans slam ‘childish’ US response to Roosevelt ship incident

What happened

On 5 March, USS Theodore Roosevelt, the US Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, arrived in Da Nang for a five-day port visit commemorating the 25th anniversary of US-Vietnam relations, with 5,680 sailors, 90 aircraft/helicopters and an array of other weapon systems on board. At that time, the northern regions of Vietnam had reported 25 positive Covid-19 cases. The ship then proceeded on its mission of patrolling the South China Sea and the Pacific.

On 24 March, three sailors tested positive for Covid-19. Given that on board quarantine/isolation is not practical, the infection soon began to spread and the ship was docked at Guam Port on 27 March. By 30 March, about a hundred sailors had tested positive and were quarantined in the naval base at Guam.

On the same day, Captain Crozier emailed an unclassified letter to his superiors recommending that the ship be evacuated because it was not practical to observe quarantine or social distancing on board. By default, he was recommending mission abandonment since as per US defence strategy, a certain degree of readiness is maintained by the US forces in various theatres on land, sea and in the air. Copies of the email were marked to a number of addresses not in the chain of command.

On 31 March, the email was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle, which published it. On 1 April, the US Navy ordered the ship to be evacuated leaving on board 400 personnel to maintain the nuclear reactor, weapons, fire fighting equipment and other essential services.

On 2 April, the acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly, a political appointee, relieved Captain Crozier of his command of the aircraft carrier for sending copies of his letter over a non-secure email to a “broad array of people” not in the chain of command and “allowed the complexity of the challenge of the COVID breakout on the ship to overwhelm his ability to act professionally”.

On 3 April, Captain Crozier left the ship to applauding sailors who chanted “Captain Crozier”. Later, the acting Navy secretary resigned on 7 April after being criticised for his profane remarks about Captain Crozier while addressing the sailors on board Theodore Roosevelt on 5 April.

Also read: We’re not at war. Sailors don’t need to die, captain of virus-hit US aircraft carrier pleads

Command failure, or punished for moral uprightness?

Was the action against Captain Crozier taken for raising his voice against superiors showing lack of urgency to ensure the safety of the sailors? Or was it a case of command failure wherein the Captain was overwhelmed by the situation and, by design or default, leaked the information about mission abandonment by an aircraft carrier — a major element of deployed deterrent sea power in the South China Sea and the Pacific?

Captain Crozier cannot be faulted for being concerned about the well-being of his sailors. In his view, the US was not in a state of war and the lives of sailors were more important than continuation of the mission. When he felt that his superiors were not accepting his recommendations or not showing the desired urgency, he took the decision to write the letter, probably fully aware of the consequences. He knew that the email would find its way to the press. He probably felt that this was the only way to “move” the US Navy and save his sailors. On this count, he will forever remain a hero for his sailors as well as the majority of the American public as is evident from the reactions coming out of the US.

But his command mission was decided by his superiors and only they had the authority to abandon it. His superiors were probably equally conscious of the safety of the sailors. However, in their view, continuation of the mission and ensuring the effectiveness of the aircraft carrier was equally important. Maintaining the credibility of the deterrent is no different from being in war itself. Captain Crozier was in “command” and not taking part in a popularity contest. His resignation on moral grounds would have also achieved the aim of highlighting the issue.

The conduct of the acting Navy secretary itself is controversial. He took the unusual, if not unprecedented, step of personally relieving Captain Crozier of his command rather than leaving it to the competent authority in the US Navy. He also showed lack of grace by making it a personal issue when he passed unbecoming remarks about Captain Crozier while addressing the sailors. His conduct puts a question mark over the civil-military relationship in the US.

The jury is still out on the disciplinary aspect of Captain Crozier’s conduct with the entire matter being under investigation.

Also read: Not using Army during exodus of migrants was an error of judgement. Modi govt will rue it

Lesson for Indian military

I will just focus on one aspect — our approach to accountability for command failure. Indian military’s track record in this regard is rather poor, which can have serious repercussions for us in peace and wartime.

The most notable example, which is still fresh in the public mind, is how we approached the accountability for command failure during the Kargil War in May 1999. Only one battalion commander of Dras sub-sector was immediately posted out. The Brigade Commander was posted out after nearly a month.

The seriousness of the lapse required immediate change of command in respect of battalion, brigade and division commanders, and subsequent disciplinary action against the battalion commanders and the brigade commander for not keeping their area of responsibility under surveillance. No accountability was ever fixed for intelligence failure at the strategic level for which the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is responsible. No accountability was ever fixed for the lack of resolve shown at various levels of command for the first one month of the war.

In 1989, an aircraft hangar collapsed at Gwalior air base damaging a number of newly acquired Mirage 2000 aircraft. No heads rolled and no accountability was fixed. Little is ever known about the outcome of the numerous court of inquiries held to investigate crashes of aircraft during training. Again, we are running away from fixing accountability.

The Indian Navy fares no better. It has damaged or lost more ships and submarines in peace time than in the wars or during operations it has undertaken. That some of the serious mishaps took place at docks or in harbour raises the serious issue of command failure. In the Navy too, very little is ever heard of responsibility and accountability being fixed for command failure. The resignation of the Naval Chief in 2014 after a spate of accidents was a singular exception.

Since the political leadership in India has a detached approach to military-related matters, it is for the armed forces to fix the problem of lack of accountability for command failures from within.

Lt Gen H S Panag PVSM, AVSM (R) served in the Indian Army for 40 years. He was GOC in C Northern Command and Central Command. Post retirement, he was Member of Armed Forces Tribunal. Views are personal.