DW BUREAU / Patiala To combat COVID-19 pandemic there is urgent need for active surveillance and isolation of the areas of high prevalence is the name of the game. Dr AS Sekhon, President of the Punjab Medical Council, stating this here today said that a country with population of 1.3 billion has tested only 76k people and it was too little to detect the real spread of the dreaded COVID-19. He said that the basic principles of public health of controlling epidemic must be followed. During lockdown the disease continues to simmer till about 60 percent of the population is exposed and ultimately herd immunity develops in the entire population which is followed by natural death of the deadly disease which takes a lot of time. Dr Sekhon said that modern technology and techniques in public health justify that at this juncture active steps should be taken to contain the spread of the deadly disease. Starting with the hotspots in Punjab the entire population of the state should be covered under active surveillance to identify active cases tracing contacts and isolation. The methodology for this can be worked out by the planners and implementers in the field. This would help in identification of suspected Corona infected patients by speeding up and broadbasing the sampling survey allover Punjab further strengthening the state's capability to counter the unprecedented challenge. He said that interns and final year medical students should be trained in conducting this survey by the faculty in different medical colleges in the state. He said that when lockdown was still in force it was time that the disease is contained and with thorough survey consolidation and elimination was achieved. Dr Sekhon, a specialist in Community Medicine, said that merely increasing the number of beds in hospitals for quarantine and treatment would not suffice till the authorities have a proactive approach to eliminate the disease. He said it is estimated that 70 ICU beds are required for 1,000 patients over 70 years while less than two ICU beds are needed for 10,000 population for younger generation group. Dr Sekhon, a former Registrar of the Baba Farid University. (editor@dailyworld.in)