With a surge in cases, contact tracing becomes a difficult exercise

Average contacts traced per patient is reduced by half over a week; Health Department is increasing the number of field staff for the process

With a surge in COVID-19 cases, authorities are struggling to keep pace with contact tracing. Although the total number of contacts traced in the last week (January 1 to 7, 2022) is nearly seven times more than the contacts traced in the preceding week (December 25 to 31, 2021), the average contacts traced per patient is reduced by half.

While 14,948 primary contacts were traced in the week ending December 31 with 3.75 contacts per patient, 72,812 primary contacts were traced in the week ending January 7 with 2.22 contacts per patient.