Singh Jaspreet, Yadav Rajesh, Robinson Samantha, Vanelli Mark, Nyendak Melissa, Desai Meghna
Health Unit, U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, India.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, India.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2025 May 20;5(5):e0003982. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0003982. eCollection 2025.
Between March 2020-June 2021, over 30 million COVID-19 cases were reported in India. We described the COVID-19 response across the US Mission India (US Embassy New Delhi, US Consulates - Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata) to use the learnings for a possible future pandemic. We reviewed COVID-19 mitigation activities at five US Mission India posts from March 2020-July 2021. We also analyzed case investigation and contact tracing data from Health Units (outpatient clinics), including demographics, clinical findings, test results, contact positivity rate, and compared attack rates across the posts during the same period. The US Mission in India, comprising multiple US Government agencies, initiated COVID-19 mitigation in March 2020 with educational sessions, infection prevention training, health assessments, and standard operating procedures. The Health Unit and US CDC India office initiated COVID-19 case investigations and conducted contact tracing. During the study period, 636 COVID-19 cases (72% males), including 48 clusters (size range 2-10 cases), were reported. Overall case fatality rate was 1.5% (10). Of case patients, 82% (523) were Indians, and 18% (113) were Americans. On presentation, 22% (138/625) of cases were asymptomatic. The median time from symptom onset to notification to the Health Unit was three days (Interquartile range 1-5). The Health Unit identified 2,484 contacts with a 25% positivity rate. The attack rates ranged between 10-19%, with the highest at 19% in Delhi, which was lower compared to the estimated attack rate for respective cities but closely resembled the pattern of COVID-19 waves in India. Collaboration between medical providers and public health specialists during the COVID-19 response in US Mission India led to new organizational capabilities in contact tracing, community education, and workflows. These strategies helped reduce morbidity and mortality within the US Mission during the pandemic.
2020年3月至2021年6月期间，印度报告了超过3000万例新冠病毒病病例。我们描述了美国驻印度使团（美国驻新德里大使馆、美国驻孟买、海得拉巴、金奈和加尔各答领事馆）应对新冠病毒病的情况，以便为未来可能发生的大流行汲取经验教训。我们回顾了2020年3月至2021年7月期间美国驻印度使团五个地点的新冠病毒病缓解活动。我们还分析了卫生单位（门诊诊所）的病例调查和接触者追踪数据，包括人口统计学、临床发现、检测结果、接触者阳性率，并比较了同期各地点的发病率。由多个美国政府机构组成的美国驻印度使团于2020年3月通过开展教育课程、感染预防培训、健康评估和标准操作程序来启动新冠病毒病缓解工作。卫生单位和美国疾病控制与预防中心印度办事处启动了新冠病毒病病例调查并进行接触者追踪。在研究期间，报告了636例新冠病毒病病例（72%为男性），包括48个聚集性病例（规模为2至10例）。总体病死率为1.5%（10例）。病例患者中，82%（523例）为印度人，18%（113例）为美国人。就诊时，22%（138/625）的病例无症状。从症状出现到向卫生单位报告的中位时间为三天（四分位间距1至5天）。卫生单位识别出2484名接触者，阳性率为25%。发病率在10%至19%之间，德里最高，为19%，与各城市的估计发病率相比更低，但与印度新冠病毒病浪潮的模式密切相似。在美国驻印度使团应对新冠病毒病期间，医疗服务提供者与公共卫生专家之间的合作带来了接触者追踪、社区教育和工作流程方面的新组织能力。这些策略有助于在大流行期间降低美国驻印度使团内的发病率和死亡率。
