TY - JOUR
T1 - Operational Gaps in Implementing the COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing in Madhesh Province of Nepal, May–July 2021
AU - Thakur, Nishant
AU - Vogt, Florian
AU - Satyanarayana, Srinath
AU - Nair, Divya
AU - Garu, Krishna
AU - Subedee, Koshal Chandra
AU - Mandal, Shrawan Kumar
AU - Pokhrel, Amrit
AU - Gautam, Dipendra
AU - Paudel, Krishna Prasad
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - In Nepal, case investigation and contact tracing (CICT) was adopted as an important public health measure to reduce COVID-19 transmission. In this study, we assessed the performance of CICT in Madhesh Province of Nepal against national benchmarks, using routine programmatic data reported by district CICT teams. Between May and July 2021, 17,943 COVID-19 cases were declared in the province, among which case investigation was performed for 30% (95% CI: 29.6–31.0%) within 24 h (against 80% benchmark). As a result of case investigations, 6067 contacts were identified (3 contacts per 10 cases), of which 40% were traced and tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection (against 100% benchmark). About 60% of the contacts tested positive. At most 14% (95% CI: 13.1% to 14.9%) of traced contacts underwent a 14-day follow-up assessment (against 100% benchmark). We found the performance of the CICT program in Madhesh Province to be sub-optimal and call for corrective measures to strengthen CICT in the province and the country at large. Similar studies with wider geographical scope and longer time frames are needed to identify and address deficiencies in data recording and reporting systems for COVID-19, in low-and middle-income countries like Nepal and others.
AB - In Nepal, case investigation and contact tracing (CICT) was adopted as an important public health measure to reduce COVID-19 transmission. In this study, we assessed the performance of CICT in Madhesh Province of Nepal against national benchmarks, using routine programmatic data reported by district CICT teams. Between May and July 2021, 17,943 COVID-19 cases were declared in the province, among which case investigation was performed for 30% (95% CI: 29.6–31.0%) within 24 h (against 80% benchmark). As a result of case investigations, 6067 contacts were identified (3 contacts per 10 cases), of which 40% were traced and tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection (against 100% benchmark). About 60% of the contacts tested positive. At most 14% (95% CI: 13.1% to 14.9%) of traced contacts underwent a 14-day follow-up assessment (against 100% benchmark). We found the performance of the CICT program in Madhesh Province to be sub-optimal and call for corrective measures to strengthen CICT in the province and the country at large. Similar studies with wider geographical scope and longer time frames are needed to identify and address deficiencies in data recording and reporting systems for COVID-19, in low-and middle-income countries like Nepal and others.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Nepal
KW - case investigation
KW - challenges
KW - contact tracing
KW - gaps
KW - key performance indicators
KW - operational research (SORT IT)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132189732&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/tropicalmed7060098
DO - 10.3390/tropicalmed7060098
M3 - Article
SN - 2414-6366
VL - 7
JO - Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
JF - Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
IS - 6
M1 - 98
ER -